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.

Explanation: Founded in 1908 with significant participation of Norddeutscher Lloyd with its registered office in Bremen for the exploitation of mineral deposits in the German protectorates in the Pacific. In 1914 the mine installations were confiscated by Japan and later no longer returned. From 1923 the company participated in N. V. Phönix Handel- en Cultur Maatschappij, which was finally taken over, and from 1925 in Vereinigte Blei- und Zinkerzbergbau-Gerwerkschaft in Mies (Stribro/CSR). It expired in 1936. Content: Business correspondence - Reich compensation for war damage - Participations - Company archive of N. V. Phoenix Handel- en Cultur Maatschappij with information on branches in Amboina, Manokwari, Sarwi, Bonggo, Wakde and Hollandia (Dutch New Guinea)

Contains among other things: Statute of the New Guinea Company, Berlin 1886

Contains: Criminal case against the former police master Kaltenbach because of insulting

Contains among other things: South Australia. Government Resident's report on northern territory for the year 1890. Palmerston, 1890 G. Volkens, report on my trip to the South Seas. I. Part New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago, Marshall Islands

Contains among other things: Map of the northern part of the Gazelle Peninsula, M.: 1:100 000 and Map of New Guinea, 1908

Contains among other things: Postal traffic with New Zealand and New Guinea, 1912 - 1913

Contains among other things: Compensation to Waria Syndicate, Hamburg, for the loss of its mining concessions in New Guinea

Contains among other things: Gold concession of the Waria Syndicate on New Guinea - value of the gold veins on Edie Creek exploited since 1929 by "The New-Guinea Goldfields"; "The New-Guinea Goldfields Ltd" - newspaper report in The Rabaul Times, Sept. 1929.

Contains only: Question of hereditary claim to a farm in New Guinea

The court system is well documented in numerous individual case files, both with regard to jurisdiction over natives and "Europeans".

The household and treasury system is essentially documented in the records of the governor's main treasury.

The administration can mainly be traced in the files of the district offices of Herbertshöhe, Rabaul, Friedrich Wilhelmshafen and Käwieng, whereby "administration" at that time also included jurisdiction over natives.

Only a few documents from the imperial stations have survived.