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History of Zipcode
Historical overview of the German zipcodes
The postalcodes in Germany (zipcode; in German "Postleitzahl" (abr. PLZ)) is today a five digit code identifying area of the recipient.
Functionally, the zipcode is similar to codes like telehpone area numbers or license plate numbers, allowing the reader to identfy the greater region of the corresponding code.
Until 2003 there were 117 countries using zipcodes for their postal systems.
In Germany the zipcodes today have five digits since the setup of of a new system due to the unification of the former two German states (Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and German Democratic Republic (GDR)).
From 1941 to 1961 they had two digits, from 1961 to 1993 four digits (in the FRG).
Beside the zipcodes for areas, the German postalcode also includes codes for companies with a high letter-in-/output and codes for p.o.-boxes in postoffices.
The creator of the German zipcode was the Deutsche Post AG (formerly Deutsche Post).
Brief history of the German zipcodes (postalcodes):
In 1853 the German postoffce run by Thurn&Taxis established a system to identify areas/communities with a code of digits.
A Mr. Carl Borbe then arranged Germany in greater regions, regions and regional areas in 1917.
The two digit zipcode system:
On the fifth of July 1941 the German Reichspost (today Deutsche Post) introduced a system of "package-guidance-areas", which were represented by a two digit code. (see picture of postofficebook from 1944). E.g. the area of Wesfalia had the code "21", north Westfalia "21a", south Westfalia "21b", and so on.
The system was made authorative in 1943.
The four digit zipcode system:
Due to the division of Germany (FRG and GDR), the FRG decided in 1961 to introduce a new system of zipcodes (leaving the codes from 1000 to 1999 and from 9000 to 9999 empty for the cities in Eastern Germany (GDR)), whereas big cities like Bonn (zipcode 5300) were referred to with two digits omiting the last two digits if they were zero.
This change in 1974 with the introduction of the first automated distribution centers.
In January 1965 the GDR introduced its own four digit zipcodes, which did not forsee any digits for the cities/areas of the FRG and had a better or more sophisticated useage in smaller areas.
For example, the zipcodes of the FRG could not identify the postcenter in a big city - it was therefore necessary to include these:
2000 Hamburg 74 while the system of the GDR allowed to include the postcenter already in the zipcode: 1199 Berlin
Because of the two four digit systems, many zipcodes existed in both states, so that the zipcode "5300" stood for Bonn(FRG) and Weimar(GDR). This did not hinder the usage though, as both states saw themselves and were treated as sovereign nations. For the time, that the FRG did not accept the GDR as sovereign state, the packages and letters meant to be sent from the FRG to the GDR were marked with an "X" in the zipcode, which was later substituted with "GDR" (DDR in German).
The five digit zipcode system of today:
Due to the unification of the two Germanys in 1990, the Deutsche Post was faced with the challenge of having to cope with duplicate zipcodes, which was initially solved through adding a "W" for the former FRG codes and a "O" for the former GDR codes.
As this was system was confusing for foreign countries on the one side and psychologically unproductive for the Germans, the first idea of the Deutsche Post was to simply change those postal codes, that existed two times.
Because of the challenges with the postcenter identification (former GDR codes allowes this, former FRG codes did not), the necessity of automating the letter distribution, the possibility of adding zipcodes for companies with a high letter or package turnover and of course for political reasons the Deutsche Post decided in 1993 to introduce a new German zipcode, using 5 digits.
A slight mistake may be seen in the introduction of zipcodes with a zero in the first digit, that until today challenges software and programs since these tend to neglect a "leading" zero in a number.
Additionally the first publicly free obtainable zipcode-list didnot contain the zipcodes used for companies and p.o.-boxes, which made it a system with gaps in it.
The Deutsche Post offers a zipcode book, that contains all zipcode, which was intorduced in 1993 and refined in 2005 (but because of an indivudal that sued the Deutsche Post AG as the company was reluctant to publish a new book. This may also be the reason, why the 2005-version is not free, but must be bought by German citizens, who paid for it through their taxes and stamps).
The German origin of the originally longer text can be found in the German version of Wikipedia. We cannot grant any warranty on the accuracy of the original text and surely not on our translation efforts.
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