100th anniversary of death of Heinrich of Stephan - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1997 - 100 Pfennig

Heinrich von Stephan, born on January 7, 1831 in Stolp, died on April 8, 1897 in Berlin, is one of the most important figures in German postal history. After graduation, he joined in 1848 at the post office Stolp in the service of postal administration. The award-winning exam to the post-assistant 1850 opened the way for him into the higher civil service hierarchy. After various activities and promotions, he was finally appointed in 1867 to the Secret Upper Postal Council. In 1870, the King of Prussia, Wilhelm I, appointed Heinrich Stephan general post director of the North German Confederation. After the union of the Reichstelegraphenwesen with the Reichspost, Stephan was appointed postmaster-general. After the Reich Post Office had been established, he was appointed as "State Secretary of the Reich Post Office" in the Prussian Council of State. In 1855 Emperor Wilhelm I elevated him to hereditary nobility. The merits of Heinrich von Stephans lie mainly in two areas. On the one hand, he created the Deutsche Reichspost from the differently organized postal administrations of the German states and made them a well-functioning and modern institution. On the other hand, he strove internationally to bring about a merger of all postal administrations in the world. He is considered the initiator of the founded in 1874 Universal Postal Union, which created the conditions for an efficiently organized international postal and communications. (Text: Dr. Kallinich, Museum of Post and Communications, Berlin)