Portal:Philately/Selected biography archive/5

Heinrich von Stephan (1831–1897) was a general post director for the German Empire who reorganized the German postal service. He was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal Union in 1874, and in 1877 introduced the telephone to Germany.

His career began in the Prussian post in 1849 and in 1866 he was in charge of federalizing the postal service that had been run by the Thurn und Taxis family. He was named Postmaster General of the German Empire in 1876, the Undersecretary of State in charge of the post office in 1880, and the Minister of Postal Services for Germany in 1895.

Early on he worked to establish a uniform postage rate throughout Germany. His general goal of standardization and internationalization is evident in his work to combine the postal service with the telegraph service in Germany, and in his efforts to organize the International Postal Conference in Bern in 1874, in which the Universal Postal Union was established. He introduced the postcard to Germany in 1870; the postcard came into widespread use in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War as a method of communication between units in the field.