Content: Administration of services, personnel, cash management and accounting - Collection of legal provisions and decrees, including judicial decisions on postal, telegraphic and telephone services - International postal agreements and treaties with individual states - Supervision and regulation of postal services, organisation of subordinate postal and telegraph institutions - German postal institutions abroad, especially in German New Guinea, on the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, Palau Islands and Marshall Islands, on Samoa and in Shanghai - relations of the Oberpostdirektion with shipping companies, railway companies and forwarding agents - postal statistics - postal traffic with overseas countries, also establishment of postal steamship lines - air and rail postal services - radio and radio broadcasting
Explanation: When the North German Confederation was founded, the postal system was organised as a unified state transport authority with the simultaneous disappearance of the territorial postal institutions. Bremen received a federal post office. In 1871, postal sovereignty was transferred to the German Reich. In 1874, the Reichspostverwaltung appointed Bremen as the seat of an Oberpostdirektion, which became the medium Reichspostbehörde. In addition to the territory of Bremen, its area of responsibility included the part of the administrative district of Hanover on the left bank of the Weser, parts of the administrative district of Stade and the administrative district of Thedinghausen in Brunswick. Until the First World War she was also responsible for the postal services in German New Guinea, on the Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, Palau and Marshall Islands and Samoa. From 1934-1945 the Oberpostdirektion was called Reichspostdirektion Bremen. In 1943 it also took over the district of the Oldenburg management, which had until then been independent, and which included the Weser-Ems district. The privatization of Deutsche Bundespost was initiated in 1989, and in 1990 it was separated into the postal service and telecommunications divisions at OPD. At the end of 1992, the Postal Directorate was divided into the Postal Service and Telecommunications Directorates. Since 1995 they have been part of Deutsche Post AG and Deutsche Telekom AG. Lit.: Christian Piefke, Die Entstehung der Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Blätter aus der Weser-Ems-Gebiet, Vol. 1, H. 1, 1955, S. 2-3; Werner Guddat, 100 Jahre Oberpostdirektion Bremen, Leer 1974; Theodor Windmann, 100 Jahre Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Hefte Weser-Ems, Vol. 1, 1955, S. 2-3. 4, H. 4, 1973, p. 77-84; Johannes Rust, Die Postgeschichte des Bezirks der Reichspostdirektion Bremen für den Kriegsjahre 1939-1945, Bremen 1949; K. Johanns, Die ersten Schritte. Attempt to reconstruct postal conditions in the Reichspostdirektions district of Bremen after the end of the Second World War until the resumption of limited correspondence on 1 July 1945, in: Philatelie und Postgeschichte, 20, No. 89, 1986, p. 1-19; Alexis Wegener, Die Post in Bremen und Bremerhaven 1945-1964, in: Wachsende Städte an der Unterweser, 1965, p. 88-96; Der OPD-Bezirk Bremen, in: Zeitschrift für das Post- u. Fernmeldewesen, 7 (1955), p. 41-53; Oberpostdirektion Bremen (ed.), Oberpostdirektion Bremen im neuen Haus, Bremen 1985; Herbert Leclerc, Von Apia bis Yap. Former German postal institutions in the South Seas, in: Archiv für deutsche Postgeschichte 1982, pp. 7-32; Fritz Thole, Die Leiter der Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Blätter aus dem Weser-Emsgebiet, vol. 1, H. 1, 1955, p. 3, H. 3, 1956, p. 29-38, vol. 2, H. 6, 1961, p. 118-119. Reference: Christian Piefke, Die Entstehung der Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Blätter aus der Weser-Ems-Gebiet, vol. 1, H. 1, 1955, p. 2-3; Werner Guddat, 100 Jahre Oberpostdirektion Bremen, Leer 1974; Theodor Windmann, 100 Jahre Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Hefte Weser-Ems, vol. 4, H. 4, 1973, p. 77-84; Johannes Rust, Die Postgeschichte des Bezirks der Reichspostdirektion Bremen für die Kriegsjahre 1939-1945, Bremen 1949; K. Johanns, Die ersten Schritte. Attempt to reconstruct postal conditions in the Reichspostdirektions district of Bremen after the end of the Second World War until the resumption of limited correspondence on 1 July 1945, in: Philatelie und Postgeschichte, 20, No. 89, 1986, p. 1-19; Alexis Wegener, Die Post in Bremen und Bremerhaven 1945-1964, in: Wachsende Städte an der Unterweser, 1965, p. 88-96; Der OPD-Bezirk Bremen, in: Zeitschrift für das Post- u. Fernmeldewesen, 7 (1955), p. 41-53; Oberpostdirektion Bremen (ed.), Oberpostdirektion Bremen im neuen Haus, Bremen 1985; Herbert Leclerc, Von Apia bis Yap. Former German Post Offices in the South Seas, in: Archiv für deutsche Postgeschichte 1982, pp. 7-32; Fritz Thole, Die Leiter der Oberpostdirektion Bremen, in: Postgeschichtliche Blätter aus dem Weser-Ems-Gebiet, vol. 1, h. 1, 1955, pp. 3, h. 3, 1956, pp. 29-38, vol. 2, h. 6, 1961, pp. 118-119.