Vehicle registration plates of the German Democratic Republic

East German vehicle registration plates were issued in the former German Democratic Republic between 1953 and 1990. Vehicles whose cylinder capacity was less than 50 cm3 were exempt from registration.

The plates remained legal until the end of 1993, when all vehicles had to be re-registered to the West German system.

Design
Trabant 601 registered in East Berlin

The plates' appearance remained largely constant during the 37 years in which they were issued. Black alphanumerics rendered in a condensed version of DIN 1451 were used (although other fonts have also been observed),[1] with the first letter indicating the bezirk (the German word for 'district') where the vehicle was registered. Between 1953 and 1974, the format of these plates was XX ##-##, where X is any letter in the range A-Z, and # is a digit between 0 and 9 – although a numerical prefix and/or suffix of '00' was disallowed.

In response to the dramatic increase in the number of vehicles on East German roads, the design was revised in October 1974 to include an additional serial letter, albeit at the cost of the initial digit. The new format became: XXX #-##. Under this system, '0' was a permitted prefix digit, but the combination '0-00' was disallowed.

List of district identifiers

The prefixes were allocated alphabetically to each region, from North to South. The letters G, J, Q, and W were not used.

Districts (Bezirke) of the GDR
Prefix Bezirk
A Rostock
B Schwerin
C Neubrandenburg
D, P Potsdam
E Frankfurt
F, L Erfurt
H, M Magdeburg
I East Berlin
K, V Halle
N Gera
O Suhl
R, Y Dresden
S, U Leipzig
T, X Karl-Marx-Stadt
Z Cottbus

The prefixes HJ, KZ, SA, and SS were not issued, due to their Nazi connotations.

Special Plates

GST
GST plate issued in Karl-Marx-Stadt

Vehicles belonging to the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (en: Sport and Technology Association), or GST for short, were allocated plates with only a single prefix letter denoting the district of registration.

Military

Vehicles belonging to the Nationale Volksarmee (en: National People's Army) were issued plates bearing the VA (Volksarmee) prefix, whilst those of the Grenztruppen (en: Border Troops), and Grenzschutz (as of 1990) received the GT and GS prefixes, respectively.

Volkspolizei
Militia plate issued in Potsdam

Vehicles of the People's Police (East German militia) were furnished with plates bearing the VP prefix. Although they were identical in appearance and format to other East German plates, Volkspolizei plates followed a different system.

The first two digits after the VP prefix identified the district (or bezirk) where the vehicle was stationed. Incidentally, these (and diplomatic registrations) were the only plates where it was legal to use '00' as prefix digits.

The table below illustrates the numerical codes used:[2]

Code Bezirk
00 East Berlin
01 Rostock
02 Schwerin
03 Neubrandenburg
04 Potsdam
05 Frankfurt
06 Cottbus
07 Magdeburg
08 Halle
09 Erfurt
10 Gera
11 Suhl
12 Dresden
13 Leipzig
14 Karl-Marx-Stadt

Diplomatic & Foreign National
Mercedes-Benz bearing plates for the West German diplomatic mission crosses Checkpoint Charlie.

Vehicles belonging to diplomats and embassy staff were issued plates which featured white alphanumerics on a reddish-brown background, whilst those of foreign nationals were the more familiar white-on-blue. In both cases, the two-letter prefix identified the vehicle's function, whilst the first two digits indicated the country it belonged to. Diplomatic plates always began with the letter C, whilst those assigned to foreigners were prefixed with Q.

The following table lists these prefixes:

Prefix Allocation
CC Consular staff
CD Diplomatic missions and their personnel
CY Technical and administrative staff
QA Foreign correspondents
QB, QX Foreign trade offices, commercial offices, and industrial agencies
QC Travel agencies, airlines, culture and information centres
QD Others

List of numerical embassy codes:[3]

Code Country/Organisation
00 Comecon
01  Soviet Union
02  Czechoslovakia
03  Hungary
04  Poland
05  Romania
06  Bulgaria
07  People's Republic of China
08  Albania
09  Finland
10  Mongolia
11  North Korea
12  North Vietnam
13  Egypt
14  Yugoslavia
15  Cuba
16  South Vietnam
17  Syria
18  North Yemen
19  Mali
20  Guinea
21  Iraq
22  Cambodia
23  Sudan
24  South Yemen
25  India
26  People's Republic of the Congo
30  Algeria
31  Bangladesh
32  Burma
33   Switzerland
34  Italy
35  Denmark
36  Tunisia
37  Belgium
38  Sweden
39  France
40  Pakistan
41  Great Britain
42  Peru
43  Austria
44  Spain
45  Netherlands
46  Norway
47  Mexico
48  Indonesia
49  Lebanon
50  Iran
51  Japan
52  Argentina
53  Zaire
54  Brazil
55  Uruguay
56  Colombia
57  West Germany
58  Ghana
59  Portugal
60  Ecuador
61  United States
62  Turkey
63  Greece
64  Venezuela
65  Australia
66  Panama
67  Somalia
68  Libya
69  Ethiopia
70  PLO
71  Afghanistan
72  Nicaragua
73  Cape Verde
74  Philippines
75  Nigeria
76  Costa Rica
77  Guinea-Bissau
78  Laos
79  Zimbabwe
80  Mozambique
81  Angola
82  Bolivia
83  Morocco
91  France (trade delegations)
92  Austria (trade delegations)
93-96 Other accredited diplomatic missions in the GDR
99 Allocated to non-accredited diplomatic missions in the GDR

References
  1. http://www.hegis.de/ddr5.htm
  2. http://www.hegis.de/ddr9.htm
  3. http://www.dr-herzfeld.de/kennzeichengeschichte/ddrdipl.pdf
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