Germany: map

Today I got a great postcard from Germany.

The card shows a map of Germany divided into States, eight famous sights and cities of Germany and the coat of arms of all 16 States and of the federation. From 1952 to 1957 Germany was made up of the nine States Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. In 1957 joined the Saarland the federation and in 1990 the former GDR with the states Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin was during the division of Germany neither a part of the Federal Republic nor of the GDR. Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg are city states while the other 13 are area states. The States have their own legislative, judiciary and executive. Germany is bordered by Denmark, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and by the Netherlands. Germany is a member of the EU, of the UN, of the OECD, of the the NATO and of the G7. The capital of Germany was until 1990 Bonn in North Rhine-Westphalia and is since then Berlin. The biggest cities of Germany are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne and Frankfurt am Main. 

Stamp:
Janosch (from set of two) (issued 01-03-2013)

Thank you very much Sandra!