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#1136
1959 4c Champions of Liberty: Ernst Reuter
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U.S. #1136
1959 4¢ Ernst Reuter
Champions of Liberty
Issue Date: September 29, 1959
City: Washington, D.C.
Quantity: 111,685,000
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforations: 10 ½ x 11
Color: Gray
Ernst Reuter was born on July 29, 1889, in Apenrade, a town then part of the German Empire. He entered German politics as a member of the Social Democratic Party and went on to serve as mayor of the city of Magdeburg before winning election to the Reichstag. When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, Reuter was arrested and sent to a concentration camp for his political opposition. After his release, he fled into exile, eventually settling in Turkey, where he spent much of the following decade teaching public administration at the University of Ankara.
Reuter returned to Berlin after the war ended and was elected to the city's governing council in 1946, later winning election as mayor in 1947. However, Soviet authorities refused to confirm his appointment, and Reuter began carrying business cards identifying himself as the elected but unconfirmed mayor of Berlin. He formally took office as mayor of West Berlin in 1948, once the city had been divided into eastern and western sectors amid escalating Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western allies.
Reuter became the defining voice of West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of 1948 and 1949, when Soviet forces cut off all land and water routes into the city in an attempt to force the Western powers out. Addressing a crowd of roughly 300,000 people in front of the ruined Reichstag building, Reuter appealed directly to the world not to abandon Berlin, helping rally international support behind the Berlin Airlift that ultimately kept the city supplied by air for nearly a year. Reuter served as mayor until his death in 1953, and this stamp, issued as the fifth entry in the Champions of Liberty series, honored his role as one of the era's most determined symbols of resistance to Soviet expansion.
U.S. #1136
1959 4¢ Ernst Reuter
Champions of Liberty
Issue Date: September 29, 1959
City: Washington, D.C.
Quantity: 111,685,000
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforations: 10 ½ x 11
Color: Gray
Ernst Reuter was born on July 29, 1889, in Apenrade, a town then part of the German Empire. He entered German politics as a member of the Social Democratic Party and went on to serve as mayor of the city of Magdeburg before winning election to the Reichstag. When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, Reuter was arrested and sent to a concentration camp for his political opposition. After his release, he fled into exile, eventually settling in Turkey, where he spent much of the following decade teaching public administration at the University of Ankara.
Reuter returned to Berlin after the war ended and was elected to the city's governing council in 1946, later winning election as mayor in 1947. However, Soviet authorities refused to confirm his appointment, and Reuter began carrying business cards identifying himself as the elected but unconfirmed mayor of Berlin. He formally took office as mayor of West Berlin in 1948, once the city had been divided into eastern and western sectors amid escalating Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western allies.
Reuter became the defining voice of West Berlin during the Soviet blockade of 1948 and 1949, when Soviet forces cut off all land and water routes into the city in an attempt to force the Western powers out. Addressing a crowd of roughly 300,000 people in front of the ruined Reichstag building, Reuter appealed directly to the world not to abandon Berlin, helping rally international support behind the Berlin Airlift that ultimately kept the city supplied by air for nearly a year. Reuter served as mayor until his death in 1953, and this stamp, issued as the fifth entry in the Champions of Liberty series, honored his role as one of the era's most determined symbols of resistance to Soviet expansion.
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