Stamp Exhibition - Germany / German Democratic Republic 1985 - 20 Pfennig

SOZPHILEX 1985 On the occasion of the "Stamp Exhibition of Socialist Countries SOZPHILEX 1985 - Postal History", the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of the German Democratic Republic issues two multicolored special postage stamps, one of them with surcharge, in common printing September 10 to November 9, 1985 SOZPHILEX for Postal History in the GDR Capital Berlin in 1985 For the fourth time, an international stamp exhibition of socialist countries in the capital of the GDR takes place under the name of SZPHILEX, organized by the Philatelistenverband in the Kulturbund der DDR Performance comparison for exhibits in postal history can be seen in the exhibition center at the Berlin TV tower from October 4 to 13, 1985. Just where their predecessors awaited visitors: the general SOZPHILEX from 1977, which specializes in airmail collections The AERO-SOZPHILEX from 1980 and the JUNIOR-SOCPHILEX dedicated to youth from 1983. Exhibitions of the socialist countries and their philately under the name of SZPHILEX have been around since 1963. At that time, Budapest invited the philatelists to the first competition of this kind. Since then, SOZPHILEX hosts have been present with the full range of standard exhibition classes Sofia (1972), Bucharest (1973), Katowice (1974), Moscow (1.975), Prague (1976), Berlin (1977), Szombathely (1978), and again Bucharest ( 1979), Bratislava (1981), Weliko Tirnowo (1982), again Moscow (1983) and Wroclow (1984). There were also special exhibitions such as the aforementioned AERO-SOZPHILEX 1980 in Berlin, a first SOZPHILEX for postal history in 1982 in Neratovice in the CSSR and twice a JUNIORSOZPHILEX - 1980 in Plzen (CSSR) and 1983 in Berlin. And it is already clear today that a next general SOCPHILEX will be held in Kolin in Czechoslovakia in 1986. As was the case with the earlier three SZPHILEX exhibitions in the GDR, there is once again a stamp issue. It appears as a se-tenant and reproduces an image across two brands. The picture shows a German passenger mail cart of the 19th century. The Postillion on the box of the coach has to do to tame the apparently strained four horses, with two men helping him, one by trying to calm the rear pair of horses and tackling the curtain for the front horses, the other with one Bucket in hand next to the front pair of horses. From the front coach, a traveler watches the horse change. At the back window of the carriage, a father evidently says goodbye to his wife and three children, between whom a Spitz has barked up on his hind paws. In the background of this scene from the stagecoach time actually multi-storey houses, one of them with a stork's nest, and a church are to be seen, which the stamp graphic designer omitted for the sake of simplicity, however. The picture is from a relief created by the sculptor Hermann Steinemann, a pupil of Friedrich Drake, in 1878 and located in the courtyard of the former Berlin Post Office at Oranienburger Straße / Tucholskystraße. This building, which is now a listed building, was built in the years 1875 to 1881 still plans by C. Schwatlos under the direction of the Postbaurates Tuckermann and was at its inauguration of one of the most representative post offices of the time. A large dome and two smaller ones crown the three-storey house with its elongated facades of red and yellow brick, with the high entrance arch right at the corner and the rich terracotta décor. This post office was - as the name says - responsible for the driving of the Berlin Post. Therefore, there were originally several stables in the yard, and until 1925, horse-drawn post wagons were a familiar picture. On the first Christmas holiday of that year, the last of the 1,500 Berlin mail horses left this farm for a final delivery run. Then the postbus, primarily the battery-powered electric vehicle, affectionately called "Suppentriesel" by the Berliners, ousted the mailboxes with oat engines. The stables were torn down and replaced by a large coach-hall. Today, the Postfuhramt in Berlin has another headquarters, in Melchiorstraße, not far from the Heinrich Heine district. In the old post office on Oranienburger Straße, however, there is still the post office with some offices at home.