After the German Revolution in November 1918, a Republic
was proclaimed. That year, the German Communist Party was established by Rosa
Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and in January 1919 the German Workers Party,
later known as the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
(National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, "Nazis"). On 11
August 1919 the Weimar Constitution came into effect, with the sign of the
Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert.
In a cool climate of economic hardship from both the
world wide Depression and the harsh peace conditions dictated by the Treaty of Versailles,
and a long succession of more or less unstable governments, the political
masses in Germany increasingly lacked identification with their political
system of parliamentary democracy. This was exacerbated by a wide-spread
right-wing Dolchstoßlegende, a political myth which claimed the German
Revolution was the main reason why Germany had lost World War I. On the other
hand, radical left-wing communists such as the Spartacist League had wanted to
abolish what they perceived as a "capitalist rule" in favour of a
"Räterepublik" and were thus also in opposition to the existing form
of government.
During the years following the Revolution, German voters
increasingly supported anti-democratic parties, both right- (monarchists,
Nazis) and left-wing (Communists). At the beginning of the 1930s, Germany was
not far from a civil war. Paramilitary troops were set up by several parties,
there were thousands of politically motivated murders. They intimidated voters
and seeded violence and anger among the public, who suffered from high
unemployment and poverty. After a succession of unsuccessful cabinets, on 29
January 1933, President Von Hindenburg, seeing little alternative and pushed by
advisors, appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor of Germany.
A centralized totalitarian state was established by a series of moves and
decrees making Germany a single-party state. Industry was closely regulated
with quotas and requirements in order to shift the economy towards a war
production base. In 1936, German troops entered the demilitarised Rhineland as
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policies proved
inadequate. Emboldened, Hitler followed from 1938 onwards a policy of
expansionism to establish Greater Germany. To avoid a two-front war, Hitler
concluded the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with the Soviet Union, and broke it.
In 1939 the growing tensions from nationalism, militarism, and territorial
issues led to the Germans launching a blitzkrieg on 1 September against Poland,
followed two days later by war declarations against Britain and France, marking
the beginning of World War II. Germany quickly gained direct or indirect
control of the majority of Europe.
The war resulted in the death of several million German soldiers and
civilians, in total nearly ten million, large territorial losses and the
expulsion of about 15 million Germans of the eastern provinces of Germany and
various parts of Central and Eastern Europe with ethnic German population. All
major and many smaller German cities lay in ruins. Germany and Berlin were
occupied and partitioned by the Allies into four military occupation zones
controlled by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet
Union. On 23 May 1949 the U.S, Britain and France united their individual
sectors to form the Federal Republic of Germany and on 7 October 1949 the
Soviet Zone established the German Democratic Republic,
Links
The Weimar Republic in Wikipedia.
Nazi Germany in Wikipedia.
Flag of Germany (1919-1933) in Flags of the World.
Flag of Germany (1933-1945) in Flags of the World.
Stamp catalogue
date: May
1924
designer: -
printer: Reichsdruckerei, Berlin
perforated: 14:14¼
1 60 portrait
of Heinrich von Stephan, text "FÜNFZIG JAHRE / WELTPOSTVEREIN"
Venetian red
(cat. Michel 362x/SG 382/Yvert
361)
2 80 portrait
of Heinrich von Stephan, text "FÜNFZIG JAHRE / WELTPOSTVEREIN"
slate
(cat. Michel 363/SG 383/Yvert 362)
date: 24
June 1924
designer: -
printer: Reichsdruckerei, Berlin
perforated: 14:14¼
remark: official
stamps, overprints on nr. 1 and 2
3 60 overprint
"Dienstmarke" on portrait of Heinrich von Stephan
Venetian red,
overprint in black
(cat. Michel Dienst
112/SG O 111/Yvert S 75)
4 80 overprint
"Dienstmarke" on portrait of Heinrich von Stephan
slate, overprint in
black
(cat. Michel Dienst
113/SG O 112/Yvert S 76)
date: 9
October 1924
designer: -
printer: Reichsdruckerei, Berlin
perforated: 14:14¼
5 10 pf portrait
of Heinrich von Stephan, text "1874-1924 / WELTPOSTVEREIN" and
"H. VON STEPHAN"
deep green
(cat. Michel 368/SG
380/Yvert 359)
6 20 pf portrait
of Heinrich von Stephan, text "1874-1924 / WELTPOSTVEREIN" and
"H. VON STEPHAN"
deep blue
(cat. Michel 369/SG
381/Yvert 360)
International Labour Office meeting, Berlin
date: 10
October 1927
designer: -
printer: Reichsdruckerei, Berlin
perforated: 14:14¼
7 8 overprint
"I.A.A. / 10.-15.10.1927" on portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven
deep green, overprint
in black
(cat. Michel 407/SG
421/Yvert 398)
8 15 overprint
"I.A.A. / 10.-15.10.1927" on portrait of Immanuel Kant
scarlet, overprint in
black
(cat. Michel 408/SG
422/Yvert 399)
9 25 overprint
"I.A.A. / 10.-15.10.1927" on portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
blue, overprint in
black
(cat. Michel 409/SG
423/Yvert 400)
date: 1928
designer: -
printer: Reichsdruckerei, Berlin
perforated: 14:14¼
remark: printed
on chalky paper
10 60 portrait of Heinrich von
Stephan, text "FÜNFZIG JAHRE / WELTPOSTVEREIN"
Venetian
red
(cat. Michel 362y/SG
382a)