Bidspirit auction | The Official and Complete Postal

The Official and Complete Postal Code Directory of the German Postal Service in the Third Reich. Berlin, July 1944 - Verzeichnis der Postämter des Reichspostgebiets mit Angabe der Postleitzahl - ”Directory of Post Offices within the Reich Postal District, Including Postal Codes.” A detailed postal directory listing the districts and occupied territories annexed to Germany in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Alsace-Lorraine, and elsewhere. The booklet was published shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany, just before the borders and territories described within it were permanently lost to the Reich. Berlin, July 1944. A rare official booklet of exceptional historical importance, presenting the complete postal code directory of the German Postal Service (Reichspost) during the Second World War. The directory was compiled by the Reich Postal Ministry (Reichspostministerium) and officially distributed in Berlin, only a few months before the total collapse of the Nazi regime. It reflects one of the most significant logistical reforms implemented by Nazi Germany during the war: the world's first official two-digit postal code system (the foundation of the modern postal code system), introduced in 1941 to streamline and accelerate the sorting of military and civilian mail under the immense pressures of wartime and the shortage of skilled personnel. The historical significance of this directory, lies in its real-time documentation of the Reich Postal District (Reichspostgebiet) at its last territorial peak - including the districts and occupied territories annexed to Germany in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Alsace-Lorraine, and elsewhere—just before the major Nazi retreat and the Allied conquest. At the beginning of the directory is a printed graphic map illustrating the division of the Reich Postal District into 24 principal postal districts (Postleitgebiete), which largely corresponded to the administrative division of the Nazi Party districts (Gaue). The map includes a legend identifying the boundaries of the postal districts and the Gaue, extending across vast territories encompassing the annexed and occupied regions of Eastern and Western Europe. The directory itself consists of densely printed alphabetical index pages arranged in column format, listing thousands of towns, villages, and post offices throughout the Reich alongside their designated postal codes. Among the entries are post offices and administrative areas in occupied Poland (including Białystok, Danzig, and Posen), as well as territories in the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, reflecting the German effort to maintain strict and efficient administrative control during the final stages of the war. At the top of the front cover appears the official circular ink stamp of the Amtsgericht Hamburg-Bergedorf (Hamburg-Bergedorf Local Court), incorporating the Reich eagle and swastika, together with contemporary office pencil notations. At the center of the cover is the printed Nazi eagle clutching a swastika, and the directory's official retail price is given as 10 Reichspfennig (Rpf). 33 pages. Minor tears at the lower margins of the pages, not affecting the text. Pages slightly brittle. Good condition.