German postal facilities in the Ottoman Empire
The German postal facilities in Turkey existed from 1870 until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
In what was then the Ottoman Empire , the northern German postal district opened the "Constantinopel" postal agency on March 1, 1870, as the first German postal service abroad . After the establishment of the German Empire , the Reichspost took over this task on May 11, 1871.
In addition to Germany, there were other European countries that had postal facilities in Turkey. These included Austria, France, Russia and Italy.
history
In Turkey, there was a German post office in Constantinople since March 1, 1870, which was located in the Galata district . In mid-1871 the agency received the rank of post office of the German Reich and was considered the post office Pera (in the so-called European quarter), while a second (branch) post office in the then Stambul district ("Constantinopel 2"), the so-called Turkish quarter opened on January 1, 1876. The Pera post office was moved to Galata. On October 1, 1877, the main post office was moved from Pera to Galata. From March 1, 1900, the branch post office "Constantinople 3" was set up in Pera.
On October 1, 1898, a German post office was set up in Jaffa ; on March 1, 1900, German post offices opened in Beirut , Smyrna and Jerusalem . The German post offices in Asiatic Turkey were subordinate to the German post office in Constantinople, which was directly subordinate to the imperial post office . Each post office settled directly with the general post office . When Turkey entered World War I, it suspended all older surrenders and the newer treaties that restricted its sovereign rights through the existence of foreign post offices in its own country. As a result, on September 30, 1914, the German post offices, as well as those of other countries in Turkey, ceased operations.
Administrative structure
All German post offices in Turkey were administered by specialist officials from the start. The German post office in Constantinople was headed by a post director. In the lower civil service, the Kawassen , who were equipped with police powers, occupied a prominent position; the other lower officials were mostly Hamale (porters), some postmen , house servants or guards. In 1914 there were 23 specialist civil servants, three non-specialist civil servants, one “ colored ” auxiliary civil servant, 20 “ white (Turks etc.)” and six “colored” minor civil servants, compared to 17 German specialist civil servants, six “white” auxiliary civil servants and 29 employed in the minor services Force at the end of 1902. The “white” auxiliary officials who were present in 1902 came from German families who had emigrated to Syria . Gradually all of them were employed as post office assistants and after the closure of the German post offices they were taken over into the Reich service. The civil servants working in the lower service were supported from Reich funds from October 1, 1914 until they found other accommodation.
Postal connections
All suitable connections were used to transport letters between Germany and the German post offices in Turkey. Letters to Constantinople and Smyrna were transported either by rail to Constantinople ( Chemins de fer Orientaux ) or by rail to Constantza and from there on by Romanian ships; the various existing ship connections were used for the route Constantinople – Smyrna. Letters to the other German post offices were routed via the same routes, but primarily via Italy and Alexandria . Since items from foreign post offices were not allowed to be transported on the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway line , when the German post office was set up in Jerusalem, a freight mail accompanied by Kawassen was launched, which was later jointly maintained by the German, Russian, Italian and French post offices. The German post offices in Turkey were all among themselves and with a number of replacement post offices in Germany maps circuit change . In addition, numerous letters were made at offices in other countries. The parcels to and from Constantinople used to be routed via Varna or Trieste ; in 1896 these routes were replaced by the route via Constantza and from there on with Romanian ships. Parcels from and to the German post offices went either via Trieste or via Constantza and Constantinople. In addition, all post offices exchanged parcels through the German Levante Line .
Branches of service
The German post offices in Turkey took part in all branches of service in accordance with the provisions of the Universal Postal Treaty and the subsidiary agreements, including in the mail order traffic that neither the post offices in the German protected areas nor the German post offices in China and Morocco brokered.
Postage stamps
When the German postal service began in Turkey on March 1, 1870, the stamps of the northern German postal district and from 1872 of the German Empire were used first. It was not until 1884 that own brands etc. were issued here. The stamps of the Deutsche Post in Turkey were withdrawn on October 1, 1914 as a result of the abolition of the capitulations (treaties that give the Christian great powers the right to exercise jurisdiction for their subjects through their own consuls).
Other German postal facilities abroad
- Postal History and Postage Stamps of China
- Postal history and postage stamps of Morocco
- Postal history and postage stamps of Kenya
See also
literature
-
Handheld dictionary of postal services
- 1st edition; Pp. 179–180 “German postal facilities abroad. Turkey"
- 2nd Edition; P. 201 (same article with adjustments)
-
Karl Sautter : History of the Deutsche Post - Part 3 - History of the Deutsche Reichspost 1871 to 1945; Bundesdruckerei , Frankfurt am Main 1951; P. 295
- German Postal History; 1937/1938 Peglow
- German Post Archive 1921, No. 10 and 11.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Michel catalog Germany special 1999 . Schwaneberger Verlag, Unterschleißheim 1999, p. 462 .
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 1st edition; P. 405 ("Palestine")
- ↑ a b c Concise dictionary of the postal system . 1st edition. Springer, Berlin, Frankfurt / O. 1926, p. 179 .
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 1st edition; Pp. 315–316 ("Colonial postage stamps")