Some Early Postal Uniform items

[stonemint]

Gordon, I have to believe your DDR piece is just as rare as the TR one--yours is the only one I have seen.

During the TR, most women are pictured wearing the visor, of all things!

[Thälmannpionier]

add another early Postal Headgear

late 50 or mid 60s Visor Hat made by Emhage

very wooly..very saddle shaped..3 "Biesen"..painted vulcan fibre Visor..velvet middle band(like the early Vopo and Customs Visors)

[Gordon Craig]

stonemint,

Thanks for posting the inside of your TR woamn's postal beret. Never seen one in real life.

Anreas,

Nice early hat. Thanks for adding it to the thread.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Time to start this thread again.
At the end of WWII the Allied Control Council became the de facto government of Germany. The Deutsche Reichspost was absorbed by the occupation authorities. One of the first tasks in re-establishing civilian government in Germany was to restore postal and telecommunications services. In the Soviet occupied zone (SBZ) the Soviet Military Administration in Germany set up the German Central Administration (SMAD) who, as of 27 June 1945, were responsible for all of the SBZ including the communications sector. Within this administration, the German Central Administration for Communication Services (Deutsche Zentralverwaltung für das Nachrichtenwesen) was set up specifically to handle postal and telecommunications services. Initially, the individual states (Länder) in the Soviet zone issued their own stamps, but by 1946, stamps bearing the inscription Deutsche Post, valid in all four occupation zones, were being centrally issued.
It would appear that during this period civilian clothing was worn by postal workers with only an armband identifying postal workers as such. Whether this armband was worn by all postal employees or only those in the public eye is unknown at this time.
When the negotiations about a general German currency reform broke down, the Western Allies proceeded with currency reform in Allied Zones, and on 21 June 1948 the Deutsche Mark was introduced. In response, the Soviet Union announced its reform of the East German currency on 24 June 1948; the East German Mark became the currency for the Soviet zone, and its stamps were marked with overprints. This established the economic separation of the two German states. In July 1948, the stamps of the previously common issue were overprinted with the words "Soviet Occupation Zone" and subsequently the Soviet zone issued different stamps than the western zones, all, however, under the "Deutsche Post" label.
The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was founded on 23 May 1949; the formation of the German Democratic Republic followed on 7 October 1949. In the FRG the "Deutsche Post" was renamed Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post) in 1950, while the GDR retained the term "Deutsche Post". Due to Berlin's occupation status, the West Berlin postal service was technically independent of the West German Bundespost; it was known as the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin. However, no such requirements were applied to the DP operating in East Berlin. Thus, effectively speaking, the East German Postal Service came into being in 1949.
Some reference material indicates that East German postal workers started wearing uniforms specific to the DDR at this time. The uniforms were of a dark blue colour, which had been a common colour is use by the German Postal service since its inception in 1871. It appears to have taken some time to issue complete uniforms and period pictures indicate that what was worn was a combination of Post Office uniforms and civilian clothing.
Here are some pictures from the 1950s. Note that they show a mixture of civilian and Post clothing worn together.

I,m going to have to leave this for now because I am having some problem uploading pictures. Post number 9 shows uniforms from the 50s.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

I'm back with the pictures. Finally figured out what my problem was. The files I was trying to load were .bmp files and I could never make them small enough to upload. Now they are all jpg and things should work a lot better.

All of these photos are from the Bundesarchives. The first two are dated 1954 and 1957.

[Gordon Craig]

Two more photos.

[Gordon Craig]

For some ancestry to these uniforms. Here is one picture from "German Uniforms of the Third Reich" by Brian Leigh Davis. The colour and design of the uiforms, as well as the DDR rank insignia, gives you a clear view to to link with DDR Post uniforms to those of the past. The second picture is of the DDR rank chart for one period of the DDR Post. The similarity to TR rank insignia is clearly seen here.

[torstenbel]

Hi Gordon,

thanks for bringing up this thread and thanks for showing the photos. Looks like the jacket I have got is a West German 1950s Post Office jacket. Cheers, Torsten.

[Gordon Craig]

Torsten,

Glad that the photos helped. I haven't had time to take pictures of my West German postal tunic yet. We have family visiting and they are occupying most of my time. I'll try to get pictures of my West German tunic tomorrow and post them on the BRD Forum.

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of your tunic posted on that forum if you have the time.

Regards,

Gordon

[torstenbel]

Hi Gordon, thank you. I will post pics there once I have taken them. Cheers, Torsten.

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

A comment about the rank chart in post #37. The rank insignia with the grey background and gold embroidery was worn on the sleeve of a shirt. Once I scan some pages of the 1966 Uniform Regs I'll be able to show you an example of these sleeve ranks in wear.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

A scan of a page from the 1966 uniform regulations showing the sleeve rank in wear.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

The cap cords worn by the different ranks as per the 1966 regulations.

Regards,

Gordon

[Ralph P]

Gordon - Thanks for the added posts on postal uniforms.

[Gordon Craig]

Ralph,

Thanks. There is more to come. The latest pictures I took of uniforms in my collection looked good on the camera but blurry on the big screen so I will have to take them over. Hopefully next week I can finish the post of Postal uniforms.

Regards,

Gordon