Germany’s 2024 stamp program just might unseat Japan as the reigning postmark champion. I’ve long loved Japan’s graceful, poetic postmarks but this year Germany is in a league of its own with this single quirkiest and amusing pair:
These pair, for German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s birthday, were the brainchild of Bettina Walter, one of the main designers for Deutsche Post. The small cancels break down theme present in the stamp quite nicely. Setting your brain free, in two panels is not something I would have envisioned for a Kant memorial, but that is what makes a great designer.
Nobody does cancels like Germany; they pack a staggering amount of information into each tiny space reserved for postmarks. It takes a skilled illustrator to understand how to balance both an informative graphic with a clear, simple typeface to express an idea that can be understood in one glance. Unlike many post offices, Germany expends a great deal of energy in developing these exquisite works.
Coupled with the usual postmarks, Germany also issues an extensive number of “sponsored cancels” which stand alone, unaccompanied by a stamp. These releases are privately supported but promoted by Deutsche Post in their twice monthly Stamp Information booklets of new stamps and postmarks. Quite a few collectors dismiss the self-promotion cancels, but I love them, regardless the country they come from. Like stamps, each one of the cancels tell a story and are worth noting in the catalogue.
For a brief while, I thought of dropping all the specialty cancels from this page. It is a massive job pulling them together and posting information about them. There are dozens each year. But I decided to keep them for two reasons. First, I think they offer a wonderful glimpse of Germany through events and celebrations taking place throughout the country. Second, and most importantly, I simply love looking at them. They are collectable in their own right.
Traditionally, it’s been a difficult task writing up about large programs like Germany’s and they may have suffered in the past. This year, I have a better computer, with a ton of power. This in turn has made short work of all the tedious prep work. What would normally take me a day to do, I now get done in an hour or two. My old laptop was rapidly aging out. So this page is dedicated to my brother and especially nephew who build the machine for me. He did a fantastic job. I have been having a ball looking up extra bits to add to this page (and other countries) since firing it up last week. Among the little extras are references to previous designs from the same artist or theme. This really adds depth to understanding the stories stamps are telling us.
So thanks Stan & Hunter.
Cheers
Catpaw
This page is currently being edited and worked on. I decided to post it early for my readers, instead of waiting until I had everything sorted. Periodically hit refresh to see if new content has been added.
Note: First Day Covers are slow to trickle in. When I find them, they are posted pretty quickly.
January
25 Years of the Introduction of the Euro as Book Money
self-promotion postmark
Special cancels, or sponsored cancels, are postmarks created by private interests to celebrate specific dates or events, without an accompanying stamp.
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Wittmann Medien designs a large number of the self-promotion cancels Special postmark | Wittmann Media (wittmann-medien.de)
Release date: January 1, 2024
Philatelic First Day of Sale
self-promotion postmark
Sponsors: Deutsche Post AG in cooperation with the
Museum Foundation for Post & Telecommunications
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: January 1, 2024
30 Years of the Völklinger Hütte World Heritage Site
self-promotion postmark
No designer listed
Release date: January 1, 2024
Letter Galaxy
series: World of Letters started in 2021
definitive
1 stamp, 3 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
Bettina Walter returns with another edition of her series World of Letters with a nod to Galileo. The series which began December 2021, replaced definitive series “Flowers” after a 16-year run. The new series kicked off with Sea Letter Rose and since has blossomed into an intriguing play on forms of mail deliver and letter writing.
“After 16 years, it was time to finally launch a new definitive stamp series again. On the one hand, an adjustment was necessary because we started to add a matrix code to all stamps this year.
On the other hand, we wanted to use the opportunity to create new, fresh motifs that invite people to collect and bring new life to the joy of writing.” The stamps were designed by Bettina Walter, who has been designing stamps for Deutsche Post since 2017. She adds: “With the new stamp motifs, we wanted to link the topic of writing and the transmission of messages with emotionally positive imagery. I wanted to create this connection using an imaginative and surreal style.” The result is stamp motifs that are creatively linked to letter writing, such as the “sea letter rose”, which was put together from several letters and rests peacefully on a pond like “Monet”, or the carrier pigeon, which is also folded from letters. Other motifs are the letter sailor and letter kite as symbols for the transmission of messages, both driven by envelopes in the wind.
Press Release December 1, 2021, Medienkontakt
Deutsche Post DHL Group
Designer: Bettina Walter
As of 2023 Walter had created 43 stamps. She works closely with fellow stamp designer Jan-Niklas Kröger in the Post Tower in Bonn, directing a team of 4 stamp illustrators. They plan their stamps 2 years ahead of release date, gathering ideas, layout designs and stories to weave between releases.
“We want to pick up the postal customers emotionally. We tell beautiful stories, awaken childhood memories.” Bettina Walter in a 2023 interview.
Release date: January 4, 2024
Subway stations – Westfriedhof Munich
series: transit | German Subway stations
8th in series
1 stamp, 2 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
This 8th stamp in the series focuses on the Westfridhof u-bahn in the Neuhausen-Nymphenburg and Moosach district. It opened May 23, 1998, and due to its architecture and unique lighting is considered one of the most beautiful stations in Munich. This station is set apart by industrial designer Ingo Maurer’s (1932 to 2019) designs for the station lighting. Maurer treats lighting as more than mere function, to him it was also part of the architecture and should be both utilitarian and beautiful.
Designer: Jennifer Dengler and Bettina Walter
Photographer: Florian Schütz
Release date: January 4, 2024
Berlin – Brandenburg Gate
series: Time Travel Germany
3rd in series
1 stamp, 2 cancels
offset
This intriguing series positions black and white photos from the 1980s beside colour photos from 2010s to show the changes historical sites have undergone since the Berlin Wall in 1989. This one focuses on how the Brandenburg Gate looks now. When the Wall was in operation, the historic, and beloved Brandenburg Gate was an off-limits place. The dead zone ran through the Gate and even approaching it was forbidden and anyone trying to do so risked arrest or being shot.
The Brandenberg Gate is a popular theme on German stamps, ranging from the 1949 issue, 1963 and 1966 definitive multi stamp series to the later stamps such as 1990 Brandenburg Gate and Crowd and 1991 Bicentenary to name a handful.
Designers: Thomas Steinacker and Jan-Niklas Kröger
Steinacker’s first stamp was the 2015 Atrix set. Since then, he has created at least one set of stamps each year for Deutsche Post.
“It fascinates me to present complex issues in such a small area,” Jan-Niklas Kröger.
Release date: January 4, 2024
500 Years of the Evangelical Hymnbook
1 stamp, 3 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
My design makes visual reference to a church window that is illuminated, this effect intensifies when the stamp is arranged in a row with the margin of the sheet of ten stamps. Luzia Hein
Designer: Luzia Hein
This is the 5th stamp Hein has designed. She began designing stamps for Deutsche Post in 2020
Release date: January 4, 2024
Meeting of Dürer and Luther philatelists
special cancel
FRANKFURT AM MAIN
Detail from a pen drawing “Tomb of a Knight” by Albrecht Dürer †1528, from a design for the tomb of a knight and his wife
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: January 13, 2024
64th Fair with Major Exchange Day in Osnabrück
self-promotion postmark
The Association for Philately and Numismatics Osnabrück’s stamp fair took place January 14, 2024
Sponsor: Association for Philately and Numismatics “Lower Saxony”
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: January 14, 2024
Opening of Lufthansa Scheduled Flights Frankfurt-Hyderabad Nonstop
self-promotion postmark
Sponsor: Lufthansa Aerophilately Association e. V.
Karl-Jürgen Scheper
Designer: Katharina Kracker
You should check out Kracker’s website. It’s not your typical graphic artist’s site. She incorporates postmark style graphics with creative typography that makes her page stand out. Kracker has managed to use a paper background, which usually fails, but her use compliments the graphics and typography. You can see some of her previous post mark designs as well Kunden-Portfolio – Katharina Kracker Grafikdesign & Markengestaltung
Release date: January 16, 2024
Exhibition “Animals are Just People Too”
self-promotion postmark
Sponsors: Association of Stamp Collectors Nürtingen/Neckar e. V.
and City of Nürtingen
Siegfried Stoll and Johannes Häge
Designer: Geo Müller – Stempel Müller e.K.
Release date: January 20, 2024
February
Helpers of Humanity 2.0
In support of the Federal Association of Independent Welfare Organisations
series: For Welfare
special post
3 stamps, 3 cancels, 3 sheets of 10
offset
- care
- refuge help
- flood assistance
This is the 75th anniversary of the semi-postal welfare stamp. The first stamps appeared December 1949 under the name Helpers for Humanity. The stamps featured Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852), Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808-1881), Elisabeth von Thüringen (1207-1231) and Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808-1881).
Designer: Veit Grünert, Bureau Now, Berlin
Release date: February 1, 2024
125th birthday of Erich Kästner (1899-1974)
1 stamp, 2 cancels, anniversary folder (includes postcard, info sheet, cover)
offset
Writer, poet, satirist and screenwriter and the target of Nazi book burnings in the 1930s.
After the Nazis seized power, Erich Kästner fell into disgrace and had to witness his books being banned and burned in 1933. From then on, he could only publish in Germany under a pseudonym, and in 1943 a general publication ban followed. But Kästner remained in Germany, despite being arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo. After the end of the war, he resumed his writing work in Munich. Politically, he became increasingly committed to the establishment of democracy, disarmament and world peace. In 1951, he was elected president of the West German PEN Center. Erich Kästner, who received numerous awards for his works, died on July 29, 1974 in Munich.
Stempel & Informationen, AUSGABE 01 – 2024 20. Dezember 2023, p.5
On the battlefields of Verdun
the dead find no peace…
On the battlefields of Verdun
the dead stand up and speak…
On the battlefields of Verdun
the war leaves a legacy behind.
The choir of the dead says everyday:
have a better memory!
—Verdun, viele Jahre später (On the Battlefields of Verdun), Erich Kästner, 1931
Erich Kästner | Holocaust Encyclopedia (ushmm.org)
Kastner was previously commemorated on a stamp in 1999 with the Birth Centenary of Erich Kastner (1899-1974)
Designer: Bettina Walter
Two portraits: Erich Kästner smiling © Grete Kolliner / DLA-Marbach | Erich Kästner thoughtful © picture alliance/dpa/goebel
Release date: February 1, 2024
Medieval Saxon Mirror | Mittelalterlichen Sachsenspiegel
series: medieval history | law
1 stamp, 2 cancels, sheets of 10
offsett
The Heidelberg Saxon Mirror, Cod. Pal. germ. 164, was created in eastern Central Germany in the early 14th century and is the oldest of four surviving illuminated manuscripts of this legal text. A wide column of pictures illustrates the legal practices referred to in the text, which address both land and feudal law. This parchment Codex, which has been preserved fragmentarily, now consists of only 30, of what were originally around 90, leaves.
Bibliotheca Palatina – digital »The Heidelberg Saxon Mirror (Heidelberger Sachsenspiegel) (uni-heidelberg.de) <-is a brief explanation.
Designer: Rita Fürstenau
Author and illustrator Fürstenau co-founded the publishing company Rotopal, “a publishing house for graphic storytelling”, in 2007.
Release date: February 1, 2024
10 Years of the Digital Human Chain Nationwide! “For tolerance and diversity”
self-promotion postmark
Sponsor: Network South e. V. according to Made Höld
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: February 2, 2024
Presentation of the 2-euro Commemorative Coin “Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Königsstuhl)” from the “Federal States II” coin series during the “World Money Fair” in Berlin from February 2nd to 4th, 2024
self-promotion postmark
Sponsor: World Money Fair Berlin GmbH
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: February 2, 2024
25 Years of the Israel Interest Community
Self-promotion cancel
Sponsor: ISRAEL INTEREST GROUP
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: February 20, 2024
125th Birthday of Elisabeth Langgässer
self-promotion postmark
“125th birthday of Elisabeth Langgässer / *1899 †1950 /
Reading at the 13th award ceremony of the literature prize”
Designer: Geo Müller – Stempel Müller e.K., Nürnberg
Release date: February 23, 2024
Leap Year 2024
self-promotion postmark
“STAMP OF THE MONTH – / Deutsche Post Zentrale /
LEAP YEAR 2024″
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: February 29, 2024
March
Sights in Germany
series: Sights in Germany started in 2022
topics: Germany sites | history
The Brocken
1 stamp, 1 cancel, sheets of 10
offset
The Brocken, in Saxony-Anhalt, is the highest peak in the Hartz Mountains. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, a large part of the Brocken skirted the East/West German border and was designated a military zone from 1961 to 1989. The 200 metres wide strip was called the control strip (East Germany) and the death strip (West Germany). Since unification, the former militarised border has been turned into a massive green belt that cuts through Germany:
The Green Belt touches a total of nine federal states, with the main part (763 kilometres) in Thuringia, followed by Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony. Active holidaymakers can hike or cycle along the entire length of the Green Belt. On their way, they then follow the so-called Kolonnenweg, the path laid out with two rows of perforated concrete slabs, which was laid out parallel to the fence on the eastern side. This is where the GDR border troops patrolled. One of the most popular routes along the former inner-German border is the 90-kilometre-long signposted Harz Border Trail. Hardly a kilometre goes by without encountering a relic of the division. Right at the beginning, you discover the border tower near Rhoden, and the trail leads over the Brocken, the highest mountain in the Harz (1,141 metres), which lies in fog for 300 days.
The Green Belt – Where history writes nature – Germany Travel
Map of Germany showing former border in green.
The Brocken previously appeared in a stamp in 1961 for the DDR (East Germany)
The Landungsbrücken
1 stamp, 1 cancel, sheets of 10
offset
Landungsbrücken is a floating pier in Hamburg’s St. Pauli harbour.
The first jetty at the Landungsbrücken was opened in 1839. Due to this safety distance to the adjacent houses, which at that time were much closer to the water’s edge than today, the loading and unloading of coal steamers should be possible without any problems. In 1907, the jetty was rebuilt from tuff stone. It consisted of floating pontoons, and was accessible from the mainland via nine movable bridges. In contrast to the first jetty, the newer one was originally used as a landing stage for passenger steamers of the overseas lines, including the HAPAG liners. The jetty of 1907 was destroyed in the Second World War, so that today’s pontoons date from 1953 to 1955. The last new connecting piece between bridges 2 and 3 was installed in 1976. The roofing and lighting were modernised in 1999.
Landungsbrücken Hamburg Hafen – hamburg.de
Release date: March 1, 2024
Sign Language
1 stamp, 2 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
An estimated 80,000 Germans are deaf. The main sign language in use is German Sign Language (DGS). Sign language is a rich language that relies on more than hand signs. There are complex facial expressions and movements that accompany standard signing, adding emotions to any conversation. And, like spoken languages, sign language includes regional variations.
The signs used in this stamp are a gesture for “travel” with the other person responding with “Nice, I like that!” The arrows in the illustration emphasis the hand movement and facial expressions.
Designer: Katrin Stangl
Stangle previously designed the 2021 Competitive Dance Association of Germany, Centenary.
Release date: March 1, 2024
Play Figures – PLAYMOBIL®
topic: toys
1 stamp, 3 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
A large part of the development of cognitive, motor and social skills is acquired through play. Even in the Stone Age, doll-like clay figures and figures carved from wood were used for this purpose. Today there is a limitless variety of different toys, which is why the educational added value is all the more important. In this respect, the system toy introduced in 1974, which for the first time put the figures at the center, had a special role model function. The special postage stamp “Play Figures” shows a colorful selection of those PLAYMOBIL® figures that have shaped imaginative role play in children’s rooms for fifty years now. The now iconic brand has become an indispensable part of the lives of many children and fans around the world. At the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Horst Brandstätter, the head of the Zirndorf company Geobra Brandstätter, and Hans Beck, the developer of the PLAYMOBIL® figures, presented their system toy to the public for the first time.
Stempel & Informationen, January 31, 2024, ISSUE 04 – 2024, p. 6
Designer: Jan-Niklas Kröger
Release date: March 1, 2024
1300 years of Reichenau Monastery
special envelope
topic: religion | architecture | history
1 graphic envelope with 2 stamps (UNESCO World Heritage Site – Monastery Island of Reichenau (45 cents, January 2, 2008) and a vending machine postage stamp “Write letters”), cancel
offset
A UNESCO World Heritage site.
The island of Reichenau on Lake Constance preserves the traces of the Benedictine monastery, founded in 724, which exercised remarkable spiritual, intellectual and artistic influence. The churches of St Mary and Marcus, St Peter and St Paul, and St George, mainly built between the 9th and 11th centuries, provide a panorama of early medieval monastic architecture in central Europe. Their wall paintings bear witness to impressive artistic activity.
Monastic Island of Reichenau – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
The Monastery Island has appeared on twice on stamps. The first from Germany in 2008 Monastic Island of Reichenau (World Heritage 2000) and a 2009 trio from the United Nations World Heritage Sites – Germany, Monastic island of Reichenau.
Designer: DPS Wermsdorf
Release date: March 1, 2024
Philatelia Munich
special envelope
topic: philately
1 graphic envelope, 1 stamp (100th birthday of Vicco von Bülow – Loriot), cancel
offset
Designer: DPS Wermsdorf and Wittmann Medien
Release date: March 1, 2024
Philatelic first day of sale
Self-promotion cancel
Sponsor: Deutsche Post AG in cooperation with the
Museum Foundation for Post & Telecommunications
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: March 1, 2024
Issue of the 5-euro coin “Green Grasshopper” from the “Wonderful World of Insects” series
Self-promotion cancel
Sponsor: Deutsche Post AG – Headquarters
2018 Grasshopper 5 Euro coing
Designer: Wittmann Medien
Release date: March 7, 2024
30 Years of the Schmalkalden-Meiningen District
Self-promotion cancel
Sponsor: Meiningen Stamp Collectors Association e. V.
Matthias Reichel / Heiko Denner
Designer: Geo Müller – Stempel Müller e.K.
Release date: March 8, 2024
Children write to Easter Bunny – Hanni Hase
Self-promotion cancel
Yes, there is an Easter Bunny office with the post office.
Sponsor: Easter Bunny Office of Deutsche Post AG
Half-timbered house in Ostereistedt
How to Write to the Osterhase (Easter Bunny), Hanni Hase (germangirlinamerica.com)
Desigenrr: Geo Müller – Stempel Müller e.K.
Release date: March 23, 2024
April
Treasures of Philately – America’s First
series: Stamp Day
1 stamp, souvenir sheet, FDC, 3 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
This stamp celebrates the first postage stamp in the Americas – Brazil’s “ox-eyes” issue. This following is from the Stempel & Informationen, AUSGABE 06 – 2024, February 28, 2024
One of the first countries to recognize the advantages of the postage stamp after it was introduced in Great Britain on May 6, 1840 was Brazil. After the huge South American country declared independence from Portugal in 1822 and Dom Pedro was crowned the first emperor, the ruling elite sought an economic boom. This was accompanied by the surprisingly early issue of postage stamps, as the postal service was of great importance.
In 1842, Emperor Dom Pedro II and his Minister of the Interior decreed that postage rates would be uniform throughout the country and ordered the production of postage stamps so that letters could be paid for in advance. On August 1, 1843, three denominations of 30, 60 and 90 réis were issued – making Brazil the second independent country in the world to officially issue postage stamps. For this reason alone, the “ox eyes” (Portuguese Olho-de-boi), as the three stamps are called because their idiosyncratic design is reminiscent of the eyes of cattle, are among the treasures of philately.
The only known envelope that bears all three values also enjoys a legendary reputation, and at the same time documents the earliest combined use of a complete set of stamps on the American continent, which earned it the name “America’s First”. Cancelled on August 22, 1843 in the court post office in Rio de Janeiro, the letter was sent by sailing ship to the port city of Santos, about 500 kilometers to the south – and initially attracted little attention for a long time. Acquired by an unknown Brazilian collector in 1956, the unique piece came into the hands of the famous German-Brazilian philatelist Rolf Harald Meyer in 1975 and found a new owner in 2007. Now the letter with all three “ox eyes”, which themselves individually have a high historical, cultural and philatelic value, adorns the latest issue of the special postage stamp series “Stamp Day”.
The ox eyes were designed by Luís Adolfo Corrêa Costa and released August 1 1843 and withdrawn from circulation June 30, 1894.
Like many older stamps, these are imperforate and there are many plate variations. Linn’s Stamp News ran an article about these three stamps as well as variations. Identifying Brazil’s Bull’s Eyes corresponding plates can be fun (linns.com). Highly recommended.
Designer: Hanno Schabacker and Bettina Walter
Schanbacker also designed 2 Lighthouse stamps (2020 and 2022), Schleizer Dreieck Auto Races, Centenary (2023) and 150th Anniversary of the German Alpine Club (2019)
Release date: April 4, 2024
800 Years of the City of Siegen
1 stamp, 2 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
The stamp shows an historical etching of Siegen.
University town in the South Westphalia region.
Offizielle (Notfall-) Homepage der Stadtverwaltung Siegen! • Offizielle (Notfall-) Homepage der Stadtverwaltung Siegen! (siegen-stadt.de)
Designer: Marcus Chwalczyk,
Release date: April 4, 2024
300th Birthday of Immanuel Kant
1 stamp, 2 cancels, sheets of 10
offset
Kant is considered the most important philosopher of the Enlightenment and one of the most important thinkers in Western intellectual history. He was born on April 22, 1724 in Königsberg and grew up in a home influenced by Pietism. His outstanding intellectual talent meant that he was able to attend high school at the age of eight and begin his studies in 1740. The written treatises he wrote in the 1750s earned him a teaching position as a private lecturer, and in 1770 he was appointed professor of logic and metaphysics at the University of Königsberg. Kant was then forty-six years old and led a life of strict routine for many decades.
With the book “Critique of Pure Reason”, published in 1781, he ushered in a turning point in the history of philosophy. His writings revolve around four central questions: “What can I know?”, “What should I do?”, “What may I hope?” and “What is man?”.
Kant defined enlightenment as “man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity” and argued that everyone should have the courage to use their own reason. In order to make morally correct decisions, one could use a principle of action that he called the categorical imperative.
Stempel & Informationen – ISSUE 06–2024, p. 5
Designer: Bettina Walter
Release date: April 4, 2024
May
Aquatic Ecosystems
1 stamp, sheets of 10, booklet
offset
Aquatic ecosystems are the biologically richest habitats on earth. Standing inland waters, for example, offer ideal conditions for a wide variety of animal and plant species. In deep lakes, underwater plants such as the milfoil are adapted to make optimal use of the little sunlight that reaches them with their many finely feathered leaves. Fish and crabs, amphibians and insects, mussels and mollusks frolic among the flora. Rivers, which are also freshwater ecosystems, create similarly diverse but more complex habitats along their course that are characterized by constant change. Only specialists such as trout or various insect larvae can cope with strong currents, for example. Plants such as the water crowfoot are often long, narrow and flexible.
Stempel & Informationen Philatelie vor Ort March 27
Designer: Chris Campe
This is Chris’ second stamp. She prepared this stamp in 2022 and kept quiet about the design for 2 years, never spoiling the surprise:
I’m super happy to show you my second published postal stamp. It came out this Friday, more than two years after I designed it. I still love the drawing I made for the subject »underwater fauna and flora« and the designs for the two first day rubber stamps that go along with it. It was hard to stay patient and keep quiet about it for what felt like an eternity!
Chris Campe (@allthingsletters) • Instagram photos and videos
Release date: May 2, 2024
June
July
August
September
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