Upon the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the break-up of the German Confederation in the Peace of Prague, the North German Confederation was established, instigated by the Prussian minister-president Otto von Bismarck. Originally a military alliance, it evolved to a federation with the issuing of a constitution with effect from 1st July 1867. In the course of the war, Prussian troops had occupied the Free City of Frankfurt and the King of Prussia (later to become the German Kaiser, or Emperor) had purchased the remnants of the Thurn-und-Taxis Post organisation. According to article 48, the federal area of the Northern German states, de facto an enlarged Prussia, came under the united postal authority, led by director Heinrich von Stephan.
With the German unification upon the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the Deutsche Reichspost was established as a state monopoly and became the official national postal authority of the German Empire including the annexed territory of Alsace-Lorraine. Its official name was Kaiserliche Post und Telegraphenverwaltung. The Southern German federated states of Baden (until 1872), Württemberg (until 1902) and Bavaria initially maintained separate state post authorities, that nevertheless were integrated into the nationwide administration. On 1st January 1876 a Reichspostamt under Postmaster General von Stephan was split-off from Bismarck's Reich Chancellery as a government agency in its own right. In the First World War, a Reichsabgabe tax was levied on the postal traffic from 1st August 1916 in order to finance the war expenses.
The Reichspost was initially replaced by Allied-controlled postal authorities that provided mail services in the occupation zones. From 1947, a united agency served the British-American Bizone area. With the emergence of two German states, the Deutsche Bundespost (German Federal Post) was established in West Germany, and the Deutsche Post in East Germany. In addition, there was a separate Deutsche Bundespost Berlin for West Berlin, as well as the Saar postal authority (1947–1956).
After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the state-owned Bundespost continued to function as the sole provider of postal services until 1995, when the postal, telecommunications, and banking divisions were spun off as separate entities. The Deutsche Bundespost eventually became Deutsche Post AG, a share holding company, later reintegrating the Postbank, and Deutsche Telekom.[1]
During the Second World War there was an additional use for the postal vans: "01.05.1942 Transfer of Postschutz in the SS (see Gottlob Berger), shortly after that also the 'remote power mail' ('front help of the Deutsche Reichspost') used as 'SS power driving season'. During 1942, these buses were used for transporting psychiatric patients to the gasification facilities of [the] T-4 euthanasia program."[citation needed]
