This must be an embarrassing stamp to the modern political left. A giant oil refinery, the biggest in all of Germany, smokestacks spewing, being celebrated as a great achievement of the communist East German government on the occasion of the government’s 35th anniversary. The crazy part is it was a great achievement, all these years later united Germany still relies on the refinery to process the oil coming into Germany from Russia by way of the connected Druzhba pipeline. Something President Trump always has fun pointing out when hectored by Europe over the USA’s environmental policies. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This really is quite a large complex built in an otherwise small town on the Oder river near the Polish border. Being where the Russian pipeline crossed into East Germany it was the obvious, scientific place to put the refinery. At the left on the stamp you can spot the prefab Plattenbau apartment blocks put up to house the workers. This stamp represented industry in East Germany, others honored construction, agriculture and the military. The fellows with the protractor emblem were really making things happen and had been for 35 years. By the 40th anniversary and near the end of the DDR, a similar issue had education substitute for the military and industry was represented by a computer operator. You must move with the times. East German stamps were demonetized at the end of 1991
Todays stamp is issue A743, a 35 Pfennig stamp issued by East Germany on October 4th, 1984. It was a four stamp issue in various denominations that was also available as a souvenir sheet. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used. Interestingly the souvenir sheet was not much or a prize, the four stamps are worth more apart.
Schwedt is a small town on the Oder river. In 1958, Comecon decided to sponsor a long pipeline that would take heavily subsidized Soviet crude oil from Tartaristan to the Comecon nations of Eastern Europe. I did a Hungary stamp on their part here, https://the-philatelist.com/2018/09/25/hungary-builds-on-soviet-friendship-to-power-itself/ . Different nations were responsible for aspects of the pipeline. East Germany was responsible for the oil pumps. A new refinery complex was quickly put together in Schwedt just over the Polish border to process the oil coming in. It had to be put together quickly. The very long pipeline was already in operation by 1963 with construction only starting in 1960. Try doing something that fast anywhere now. Well maybe China.
To house the workers in the otherwise small town, prefabricated blocks of worker flats called plattenbau were constructed. In modern days such flats are sneered at, but still lived in. In those days, they were more respected as they were larger units than old buildings and offered private bathrooms, kitchen facilities, and more effective heating. Schwedt had also been heavily damaged in land battles with the Red Army in the last days of the war, so the was plenty of opportunity for urban renewal.
I mentioned that the oil refinery and the pipeline are still in use by modern Germany. That does not mean that levels of employment have stayed high in Schwedt. During the East German period Schwedt went from 11,000 residents up to 55,000. Since reunification, the population of Schwedt has dropped back below 30,000. The refinery is still the largest private employer in the area, but is down to 1300 workers.
Well my drink is empty and looking deeper made me understand why East Germany wanted to feature Schwedt as an example of it’s success. Convincing The Philatelist however may be easier than modern fellow traveler Greta Thurnberg. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.