People who were depicted on a GDR postage stamp during their lifetime

Last GDR postage stamp showing a living person: Pope John Paul II on his 70th birthday. Released May 15, 1990

This list gives an overview of the people who were depicted on a GDR postage stamp during their lifetime .

As in the Federal Republic of Germany , no living persons, with the exception of the head of state, were generally allowed to be depicted on postage stamps in the German Democratic Republic .

However, this requirement was deviated from several times. As early as December 1951, the Stalin Prize Winner Pawel Bykow and the National Prize Winner Erich Wirth were depicted on an edition for “German-Soviet Friendship” . In addition, statesmen from friendly states were usually given the honor of being depicted on a postage stamp. Soviet cosmonauts who were on official visits to the GDR and the first German cosmonaut, Sigmund Jähn (five motifs), were also featured in the brand image.

In 1965, for Albert Schweitzer 's 90th birthday, there was the only exception to a postage stamp during the lifetime of a person who was not politically motivated in the narrower sense.

One of the last stamps to appear in the GDR showed Pope John Paul II for the last time, on his 70th birthday in 1990, as a living person.

Brand List

image	person	Issue occasion	Issue date	Mi. -No.
	Wilhelm Pieck	First President of the GDR definitive stamp series: President Wilhelm Pieck	May 27, 1950 to 1958	251-255, 322-326, 342, 343, 622, 623,
	Wilhelm Pieck, Bolesław Bierut	German-Polish friendship	April 22, 1951	284, 285
	Mao Zedong	German-Chinese friendship	June 27, 1951	286, 288
	12 Pfg: Stalin Prize Winner Pawel Bykow and National Prize Winner Erich Wirth 24 Pfg: Josef Stalin and Wilhelm Pieck	Month of German-Soviet friendship	December 1st / 15th, 1951	296, 297
	Klement Gottwald	State visit by the President of Czechoslovakia	May 1, 1952	302
	Wilhelm Pieck	First President of the GDR for 5 years in the GDR	October 6, 1954	443, 444
	Wilhelm Pieck	83rd birthday	3rd January 1959	673
	Walter Ulbricht	Definitive series: Chairman of the State Council Walter Ulbricht	August 29, 1961 to July 1972	845-848, 934-938, 1080, 1331, 1540, 968, 969, 1087, 1088, 1481, 1482, 1689
	Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in the spaceship	First manned space flight	April 20, 1961	823
	German Stepanowitsch Titow and Walter Ulbricht 5 Pfg: GS Titow with young pioneers 10 Pfg: GS Titow in Leipzig 15 Pfg: GS Titow in the spaceship Vostok 2 20 Pfg: GS Titow receives the Karl Marx Order from W. Ulbricht 40 Pfg: GS Titow and W. Ulbricht on the journey through Berlin	Visit of the Soviet cosmonaut German S. Titow	December 11, 1961	863-866, 868
	Pavel Popovich and Andrijan Nikolaev	First group flight of the spaceships Vostok 3 and Vostok 4	September 13, 1962	Block 17 917
	Juri Gagarin , German Titow , Andrijan Nikolajew, Pawel Popowitsch	5 years of Soviet space flights	December 28, 1962	Sheetlet 926-933
	Valentina Tereshkowa and Valery Bykowski	Group flight of the spaceships Vostok 5 and Vostok 6	July 18, 1963	Tenant 970-971
	Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin 10 Pfg: W. Tereschkowa; Spaceship after takeoff 20 Pfg: W. Tereschkowa; rally 20 Pfg: J. Gagarin; rally 25 Pfg: W. Tereschkowa; View through on-board window of a spaceship	Visit of Soviet cosmonauts	October 17 / November 19, 1963	993-996
	Nikita Khrushchev 25 Pfg: Nikita Khrushchev with workers 40 Pfg: Nikita Khrushchev with Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereschkowa	70th birthday of Nikita Khrushchev	April 15, 1964	1020-1021
	Albert Schweitzer († September 4, 1965) 10 Pfg: "The great humanist and doctor" 20 Pfg: "The fighter against war and nuclear death" 25 Pfg: "The musician and Bach interpreter"	90th birthday	January 14, 1965	1084-1086
	Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonow	Launch of the Soviet spaceship Vozhod 2	April 15, 1965	1098
	Alexei Leonov	Launch of the Soviet spaceship Vozhod 2	April 15, 1965	1099
	Soviet cosmonauts: 20 Pfg: Alexei Leonow in front of the Brandenburg Gate 20 Pfg: Stylized space ship and both cosmonauts 25 Pfg: Pawel Beljajew in front of the Red City Hall	Visit of Soviet cosmonauts	October 1, 1965	Zusammendruck 1138-1140
	Walter Ulbricht	20 years of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany	March 31, 1966	1177
	Walter Ulbricht	State Council Chairman 75th birthday	June 27, 1968	1383
	Alexei Leonov	10 years of manned Soviet space flights	February 11, 1971	Sheetlet 1636–1643
	Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker	25 years of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship	May 24, 1972	1760
	Luis Corvalán	Solidarity with the Chilean people	5th November 1973	1890
	Sigmund Jähn	First German cosmonaut	September 21, 1978	2361
	Valery Bykowski and Sigmund Jähn	German cosmonaut on board the Soyuz 31	September 21, 1978	Block 53 2363
	Valery Bykowski and Sigmund Jähn	40th anniversary of liberation from fascism	May 7, 1985	2941
	40 Pfg: Yuri Gagarin; " Vostok " rocket 50 Pfg: Cosmonauts Valeri Bykowski and Sigmund Jähn, orbital complex and Interkosmos emblem 70 Pfg: Venus probe Venera , Fourier spectrometer and orbit around Venus 85 Pfg: MKF-6 multispectral camera , orbital complex, aircraft and research ship	25 years of manned spaceflight	March 25, 1986	Zusammendruck 3005-3008
	5 Pfg: Cosmonauts Sigmund Jähn and Valeri Bykowski signing the landing capsule of the Soyuz 29 spacecraft 10 Pfg: same motif as 5 Pfennig 10 Pfg: miniature sheet with four identical stamps, motif like 5 Pfennig	10th anniversary of the joint space flight USSR- DDR	June 21, 1988 August 30, 1988 August 30, 1988	3170, 3190, sheetlet with stamp 3190
	Pope John Paul II	70th Birthday	May 15, 1990	3337

Examples of living people who are symbolic of the topics depicted on the brand:

image	person	Issue occasion	Issue date	Mi. -No.
	Since the rainbow jersey may only be worn by the reigning world champion and the brand was issued in 1960, Gustav-Adolf Schur can be inferred .	1960 UCI Road World Championships on August 13th and 14th	August 3, 1960	...
	Ingrid Kramer	Olympic Summer Games 1964 ; Olympic Games on postage stamps of the German Post of the GDR	1964	...
	Ursula Böttcher and the legendary kiss of death	Circus art of the GDR	1978	...