Deutsche Bundespost 750th anniversary of Spandau-Berlin

DEUTSCHE BUNDESPOST BERLIN on 7 March 1957 issued a First Day Cover stamp commemorating the 750th anniversary of Spandau-Berlin. The maxim card and stamp depict  Stresow in the old town of Spandau. In the foreground can be seen the shipbuilding site on the Stresow, to the left of the Stresow Bridge (later Charlottenbrücke), circa 1850. Special franking shows the crest of Spandau and was used to cancel the postage. 

Between 1962 and 1963, Deutsche Bundespost Berlin issued a series of stamps showing historical landmarks around Berlin, using this very same design format.

The history of Spandau begins in the 7th century or 8th century, when the Slav Heveller first settled in the area and later built a fortress there. It was conquered in 928 by the German King Henry I, but returned to Slavic rule after the rebellion of 983.

 Fast-forward to World War II, Spandau had the infamous distinction to be the location of a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, mostly for Polish and Hungarian women.

After World War II, it was part of the British sector of West Berlin. Spandau Prison, which had been rebuilt in 1876, was used to house Nazi war criminals given custodial sentences at the Nuremberg Trials. After the death of Spandau Prison's last inmate, Rudolf Hess, in 1987, it was completely demolished by the Allied powers and later replaced with a shopping mall.