 This system was replaced in 1962 in West Germany by a four-digit system; three years later East Germany followed with its own four-digit system.Whereas the Federal Republic introduced a system with space left for the East German postal system after a possible reunification, such as by omitting all codes starting with '1' (except 1000 for West Berlin) and '9', the German Democratic Republic had a system that used all codes starting from '1' to '9' just for East Germany.Today, German postal codes are numeric, consisting of five digits since 1993.