Deutsche Bundespost Berlin
The Deutsche Bundespost Berlin was the name used on the stamps of West Berlin. It sounds similar to the name of the Western German postal services Deutsche Bundespost and was de facto a dependency of it. De jure, it was independent and was called Landespostdirektion Berlin. The governmental agency to provide mail and telecommunication services for West Berlin. This civil service agency was in operation from 1949 until 1990.
Russian occupation stamp for Berlin, 1945, Scott 11N2
Ernst Reuter, mayor of West Berlin, Scott #9N150
West Berlin was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1990, the territory was claimed by the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), despite being entirely surrounded by East Germany (GDR). The legality of this claim was contested by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. However, West Berlin de facto aligned itself politically with the FRG from May 1949 and was thereafter treated as a de facto city-state of that country. After 1949, it was directly or indirectly represented in the institutions of the FRG, and most of its residents were citizens of the FRG.
In 1969 U.S. military vehicles pass through the residential district of Zehlendorf, a routine reminder that West Berlin was still de jure occupied by the Western Allies of World War II
West Berlin auxiliary identity card, bearing the words "The holder of this identity card is a German national" in German, French and English
President John F. Kennedy addressing the people of West Berlin from Rathaus Schöneberg on Rudolf-Wilde-Platz (today's John-F.-Kennedy-Platz), 26 June 1963
President Reagan speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate giving the "Tear down this wall!" speech in 1987