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What Hat Are You Wearing Today ?

Mean Eyed Matt

One Too Many
Messages
1,142
Location
Germany
Good point, my bad. But Borchert still had to move. So their new address was no longer pre war W.8., but Berlin W as in West Berlin. Or maybe again the W just being a postal designation without a number.
From the WIKi I posted above:
W.8 is the old postal code established in 1862 which divided the postal districts according to cardinal points (C, E, SO, S, SW, W, NW, N, NO) - the number further subdivided these into small districts. These designations continued to exist after the war until the introduction of 4-digit postal codes in the 1960s (West Berlin 1962, East Berlin 1965). The designation W on the post-war hat therefore still refers to the old postal district, not 'West Berlin'. But I can't say why the number might have been dropped - I'll keep thinking about it...
 
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DonR

Practically Family
Messages
515
Beautiful 75 degree day here today. Warmest it's been for a while. Wearing an unlined sage colored Royal Playboy.

20240427_092935.jpg

20240427_093002.jpg
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,696
Location
Southeast Asia
From the WIKi I posted above:
W.8 is the old postal code established in 1862 which divided the postal districts according to cardinal points (C, E, SO, S, SW, W, NW, N, NO) - the number further subdivided these into small districts. These designations continued to exist after the war until the introduction of 4-digit postal codes in the 1960s (West Berlin 1962, East Berlin 1965). The designation W on the post-war hat therefore still refers to the old postal district, not 'West Berlin'. But I can't say why the number might have been dropped - I'll keep thinking about it...
My hypothesis is that the new address was no longer in Berlin W. 8, though still in Berlin W.

Here is a photo of the number designations for Berlin W (sorry, I can’t remember where I found this). It seems Berlin W. 8 was cut in two by the partition.
IMG_1377.png
 
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Steve1857

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,829
Location
Denmark
My hypothesis is that the new address was no longer in Berlin W. 8, though still in Berlin W.

Here is a photo of the number designations for Berlin W (sorry, I can’t remember where I found this). It seems Berlin W. 8 was cut in two by the partition.
View attachment 609757
I agree with your hypothesis, Nathan. It's my understanding that Friedrichstrasse was divided between east and west, and that the Wall cut through it in '61. I didn't realise that Kurfürstendamm was a W address as I've always known at as M (Mitte).
 

The Lost Cowboy

One Too Many
Messages
1,696
Location
Southeast Asia
I agree with your hypothesis, Nathan. It's my understanding that Friedrichstrasse was divided between east and west, and that the Wall cut through it in '61. I didn't realise that Kurfürstendamm was a W address as I've always known at as M (Mitte).
As I now understand it, almost all of the cardinal direction postal divisions (as well as the one “C” for Zentrum) were for Berlin-Mitte. They definitely didn’t apply to boroughs (Bezirke) like Charlottenburg. Those addresses would be marked with that borough name (eg, “Berlin-Charlottenburg”) like this one from 1926:
IMG_1417.jpeg


The Wiki article that Matt posted actually shows the breakdown for all the cardinal directions, under the heading “Legende” if you want to see the specifics (not sure if you read German but it does give a history of this system and explains it as specific to “Alt Berlin” ie, Mitte).

The chart under “Legende” is easy to read and to note that most of them were for “Mitte” or for a sub-division of Mitte such as “Tiergaten” or were in another borough but Mitte-adjacent (eg, an area of Pankow or Kreuzberg that borders on Mitte).
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Postbezirke_zwischen_1862_und_1920#:~:text=Die Buchstaben in der ersten,=Südwesten, W=Westen
 
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Steve1857

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,829
Location
Denmark
As I now understand it, almost all of the cardinal direction postal divisions (as well as the one “C” for Zentrum) were for Berlin-Mitte. They definitely didn’t apply to boroughs (Bezirke) like Charlottenburg. Those addresses would be marked with that borough name (eg, “Berlin-Charlottenburg”) like this one from 1925:
View attachment 609810

The Wiki article that Matt posted actually shows the breakdown for all the cardinal directions, under the heading “Legende” if you want to see the specifics (not sure if you read German but it does give a history of this system and explains it as specific to “Alt Berlin” ie, Mitte).

The chart under “Legende” is easy to read and to note that most of them were for “Mitte” or for a sub-division of Mitte such as “Tiergaten” or were in another borough but Mitte-adjacent (eg, an area of Pankow or Kreuzberg that borders on Mitte).
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_Postbezirke_zwischen_1862_und_1920#:~:text=Die Buchstaben in der ersten,=Südwesten, W=Westen
Thanks, Nathan. I'm pretty good at reading German, but must admit, I haven't read Matt's Wiki link. I must do so.
 

Steve1857

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,829
Location
Denmark
This is why I love collecting hats, and what I told my students yesterday during my talk on Top Hats.

You're not just collecting a hat, your collecting a piece of history that you just have to find out more about :)

Extra bonus: it connects you with people you would never have connected with before, like the good folks on the FL.
 

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