Flag of Germany

Germany’s flag is made up of three equal-sized horizontal bars. The top vertical band is black, the middle band is red, and the bottom is yellow. These colours reflect Germany’s national colours. The origins of Germany’s national colours are the subject of several theories. On May 23, 1949, Germany’s national flag was formally recognised. The national flag also comes in a vertical version. When flags must be flown at half-staff, vertical flags are not lowered. Instead, a black ribbon is tied around the staff or the cross beams’ ends. Read the full article to understand German flag history and the German 1939 flag.

The Symbol on the German Flag

Three equal horizontal bars of black (top), red, and gold makes up Germany’s national flag. These colours have a long German history, dating back to the Holy Roman Emperor’s medieval banner, which had a symbol on the German flag, featuring a black eagle with a beak on a gold backdrop and red claws. The colours black, red, and gold were derived from German troops’ uniforms during the Napoleonic wars. Since the first try in the united German republic, Germans have associated the colours of the present flag with freedom and unity. The width-to-length proportion ratio of the flag is 3:5.

The German Flag History

The German empire chose a black, white, and red flag when the Prussian monarch united Germany and became Emperor in 1871. This tricolour, known as the “imperial colours,” was used until the Second Reich was defeated during World War I. The newly founded Weimar Republic adopted the black, red, and gold flag (known as the “republican colours”) in 1919. The colours black, red, and gold signified the Weimar Republic’s centrist, republican, and democratic political parties, who had established a coalition to prevent war-mongering or pacifist fanatics from gaining power. However, many people in the Weimar Republic objected to the change from imperial to republican colours at the time. According to one account, the colours came from the Jena Student’s League. Another theory claims that the colours originated with the Lutzow Free Corps, a group of university students whose uniforms included black with red facings and gold buttons and was formed during the war against Napoleon’s armies. Another idea claims that the colours of the German 1939 flag are similar to those of the Holy Roman Empire’s coat of arms, which featured a black eagle with claws and red beaks on a gold background. However, the origin of the tricolour employed in German flag history has aroused much debate among historians. Whatever the origins of these colours, they became not merely the colours of the student movement, the student league, and the Holy Roman Empire’s German coat of arms but also the national colours of the German people.

The German 1939 Flag

The flag of Germany was restored to the red, white, and black pattern of previous years when the Weimar Republic failed in 1933, and the Nazi party was elected. At the same time, the Nazi party’s official flag had a symbol on the German flag, including a black swastika, which was adopted to represent the country. The German war flag of the Third Reich, the identical flag used by the military formations of Nazi Germany, was the most popular flag used by the many occupational general governments. It was not only raised outside all occupied municipal buildings but also at all military stations in occupied countries like Norway, Denmark, and Poland. This flag represented Germany until World War II, when all Nazi symbols, including the lag, were outlawed. The prohibition on Nazi iconography is still in place in several nations, notably Germany, which is the most rigidly enforced. During the division of Germany, which lasted from 1949 to 1989, East Germany and West Germany had different flags. Despite some reservations about accepting a national flag before eventual reunification, West Germany eventually adopted the black, red, and gold flag we know today.

Conclusion

East and West Germany waved different flags from 1949 to 1989. West Germany adopted the black-red-and-gold flag, whereas East Germany, which the Soviet Union ruled, used the black, red, and gold flag with the East German coat of arms. However, in West Germany, this flag was prohibited since it was seen as a symbol of anti-unification. The usage of nationalistic symbols, such as the flag, was disapproved of in Germany after WWII. This article discussed the German flag’s history and explored various facts about the German 1939 flag. Further, we have also discussed the symbols on the German flag.