Flag of the Third Reich. Fascist flag

Blutfahne means "bloody flag" in German. This attribute of the Third Reich has indeed been associated with blood since its inception. She became a real shrine of the Nazis.

The National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), which appeared in Germany in 1920, created a banner with a black swastika pattern in a white circle on a red background. In the summer of 1921, Adolf Hitler, who became the head of this party, ordered all party cells to use this flag at all party meetings, rallies and demonstrations.

How did the banner become "bloody"?
In 1923, the National Socialist storm troopers organized the so-called "beer putsch". It was named so because on November 8, the Nazis attempted to carry out a coup in Munich, capturing Prime Minister Gustav von Kahr and several others in the Burgerbraukeller beer hall. higher ranks government.

Hitler got up with a beer mug at the door of the hall. He told the 3,000 people who had come to listen to the prime minister that the Bavarian government had been overthrown and that the hall was surrounded by 600 NSDAP storm troopers. The captured members of the government were released under honestly. Once in a safe place, they retracted their statements, which were made under threat of murder. The National Socialists were outlawed.

The next day, the Nazis went to the Cabinet of Ministers. The column moved under flags with a swastika. The police units let them through at first. Hitler offered to surrender to the police, but was refused, after which shooting began. And then small disagreements in the legend begin. According to one version, Heinrich Trambauer, who was carrying a banner with a swastika, was wounded in the stomach, so he dropped the standard to the ground. The German merchant Andreas Bauridl, standing in front, received mortal wound and fell on the flag. The red banner of the Nazis was covered in blood, one of the attack aircraft picked it up, hid it under his shirt and later handed it over.

Another version claims that Trambauer himself pressed the flag to the wound, hid it from his friend Zellinger, and a few days later returned and took it. Karl Eggers tracked him down and handed him over to his Munich friend Grf. He kept it for several months, then it somehow got to the widow Victoria Edrich and only after that returned to Eggers.

Be that as it may, the fact remains - Hitler was arrested, and when he got out of prison, Eggers handed him the banner. It is claimed that a bullet hole remained on the cloth.

Artist Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an artist, so he understood that an ordinary piece of matter with a pattern applied to it would not cause awe - this requires appropriate design. The head of the party made the flagpole and the top with his own hands. Under the top, he placed a silver ball engraved with the names of party members who died in the coup.

Hitler was also a master at creating rituals. He knew how important it was to instill respect for the symbols in the party members, so at all party congresses he held the ceremony of consecrating new banners, starting in 1926, when the first eight banners were "consecrated". Driving in a car past the ranks of attack aircraft, he squeezed in his left hand " blood banner”, as if transferring a piece of blood. Since 1933, the ritual has been accompanied by fireworks.

The relic was kept in Munich, at the headquarters of the NSDAP, guarded by a guard of honor. Trambauer and Grimminger became the official flag bearers, but the former received a skull injury in a street fight, which damaged his psyche. Thus, the flag was left with one standard-bearer.

It is believed that since Adolf hated mentally ill people, it was he who edited the version with blood on the banner - in fact, the shrine cannot be stained with the blood of a mentally ill person.

The mystery of the disappearance of Blutfahne
The public appearance of the "bloody flag" in public for the last time occurred in 1944. He was taken out at the funeral of Adolf Wagner, the Gauleiter of Munich, who was faithful to the Nazi ideology.

Where the banner disappeared after this event is unknown. Grimminger always answered reporters that he had no idea where the bloody attribute of Hitler's power was.

Some believe that the “bloody banner” burned down in 1945 in the Munich building located at the address: Brienner Strasse 45, in the so-called “brown house”, the headquarters of the Nazis, which was badly damaged by the bombing.

Other researchers believe that the flag is kept in one of the private collections. Here, too, opinions differ. Periodically, photographs of people against the background of the banner, taken in the USA, Germany and in other countries, pop up. But still, there is no real evidence that these banners are the same Blutfahne.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

The German army has always been strong in its traditions, and banners, flags, standards played a big role in its life, being symbols of the military branches or military units. The banners were used on especially solemn occasions: from 1934 to 1944. they were sworn in by recruits, they were also put into service at parades on the occasion official holidays Third Reich:

January 1 (New Year).
January 18 (Founding of the Nation).
January 30 (National Revival Day).
Sunday 3rd March (Heroes Memorial Day).
April 20 (Birthday of A. Hitler).
April 21 (German Air Force Day).
May 1 (German Labor Day).
May 31 (Day of the German Navy).
August 29 (German Army Day).
September 29 (Harvest Festival).

When following from the barracks to the camps and back, the banners were carried in a column of troops sheathed in the head. The banner calculation consisted of three people: a standard bearer (Standarttentrager, Fahnentrager) with the rank of non-commissioned officer and two assistants (Standarten-offizieren or Fahnenoffizieren) with the rank of chief officer. At large parades, the standard-bearers of the units participating in it were reduced to a detachment, which opened the passage of troops: in this case, only two assistants relied on the entire detachment, walking along the edges of the first rank. Motorized and tank units carried their standards in cars or tanks.

THE SHAPE OF THE BENEFAIRERS

Wehrmacht flag bearer's gorget

The difference in the form of the standard-bearers was in pantaleur, badge- gorget, which was worn only when the banner was carried out, and a sleeve patch.

The pantaleur was worn over the left shoulder, made of the same material as the banner and was of the same color. Along the edges, it was sheathed with a wide silver or gold lace according to the device (the width of the lace and the main fabric is the same).

Gorget, made of white metal; all overlays were "bronze color"

The sleeve patch, introduced on August 4, 1936, was worn on the right sleeve above the elbow, repeating the "trophy" on the badge in color: dark green background, black eagle, white oak leaves; the colors of the banners corresponded to the real ones.

Assistants did not differ. The sleeve patch was sometimes also worn on the left sleeve of the uniform, often it was not worn at all.

Chevron flag-bearer of artillery, Wehrmacht
Regimental standard bearers from non-commissioned officers wore a special chevron of the 1936 model over the elbow of the right sleeve. On a dark green shield-shaped flap, the Wehrmacht eagle is embroidered in black and gold against the background of the banners of the armed forces and with a bunch of oak leaves below. The color of the flags on the chevron corresponded to the main color of the military branches.

AWARD RIBBONS

In 1939, award ribbons were established for banners for units entering Austria and the Sudetenland. Czechoslovakia and Memel (Klaipeda). These ribbons were to be attached to the tops of the banners and worn along with the usual banner ribbons. Since the award was supposed to be carried out after the end of the war. The tapes were never issued.

The colors of the ribbons completely repeated the colors of the ribbons for the medals for the respective campaigns.

Austria: red ribbon bordered with narrow white/black/white stripes. The inscription is "Osterreich 13 M3rz 1938".
Sudetes: black/red/black stripes with narrow white stripes around the edges. The inscription - "Sudetenland 1 Oktober 1938" Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia): a bronze-colored plank with the silhouette of Hradcany Castle in Prague was added to the above tape, the inscription for the Sudetenland was absent.
Memel: red/white/green/white/red stripes with narrow white stripes along the edges. The inscription is "Memel 22 marz 1939".

All inscriptions and fringe at the ends of the ribbons were silver or gold according to the device. Dimensions: for infantry banners - 100 * 15 cm, and for cavalry standards - 60 * 10 cm.

BANNERS OF THE GROUND FORCES

On March 16, 1936, an order was issued to hand over the new standard banners to the army; for the first time since 1918, since the Reichswehr used the banners of the former Imperial Army.

Banners were awarded one per battalion, squadron or battery in the period from 1936 to 1939. Units formed for the duration of the war no longer received banners.
The exception was the Fuhrer's guard battalion, which received the banner (standard) on September 30, 1939

In parts ground forces there were banners of infantry and cavalry samples.

The banner of an infantry sample was a square panel with a side of 122 cm, sheathed on three sides with a silver fringe. It was made of silk in the color of the military branch. Almost the entire length and height of the cloth was occupied by the image of a black Iron Cross trimmed with two rows of silver galloon. In the center of the cross, in a white medallion surrounded by a wreath of silver oak leaves, the Wehrmacht eagle with a black swastika in its paws was embroidered with black and brown threads. The beak and paws of the eagle, as well as the ribbon tying the wreath, were golden. Black swastikas trimmed with silver galloon were embroidered in the corners formed by the ends of the cross.

The standard of the cavalry model differed from the infantry banner in shape and size. It was a rectangle measuring 75 * 51 cm with a cutout of the trailing edge, forming two pigtails.

The colors of the banners and standards of the German armed forces corresponded to the instrument colors of the armed forces and are shown in the table.

Reich Cavalry Banner

The flagpole of the infantry standard was smooth, black, three meters long. The shaft of the cavalry standard was also black, with overlaid plates of white metal; the length of the shaft is 2.75 m. The shaft had brackets to which a belt was attached, for which the carbine of the ensign pantaller clung to when moving in equestrian formation. The rest of the details were the same for both samples: the inflow - a metal fitting of the lower part of the pole (for the infantry 7 cm long, for the cavalry - 13 cm), a pommel in the form of a spear with a Wehrmacht eagle and a swastika, "Batallionsring" (a ring with an engraved name of the unit and the date regalia awards, located on a staff under the cloth) - everything was made of white metal. A silver ribbon with black and red stripes along the edges was tied to the top, 172 cm long; her brushes were silver with a touch of black and red. At both ends of the ribbon, white metal plates were sewn on, with eagles and dates: on the long end - "16 M3rz 1935", on the short one - "16 M3rz 1936".

LUFTWAFFE BANNERS

The German Air Force had a number of differences in the form of flag bearers. In particular, the gorget was made entirely of white metal, including all overhead elements, including the Luftwaffe eagle. On the sleeve patch of gray-blue color, two crossed banners were depicted.

The cloth is a square with a side of 120 cm with a golden fringe.

On the left side was a white medallion in a wreath of silver oak leaves, with a black Iron Cross in the center. The field of the banner is the color assigned to the type of troops or service. Black-white-black corners, black swastikas trimmed with silver galloon.

Right side - the medallion is surrounded by a wreath of silver laurel leaves, in the center is the Luftwaffe eagle. The rest is identical to the left side.

The shaft and ribbons are identical to the army samples. The pommel is a Luftwaffe eagle in white metal.

BANNERS OF THE KRIGSMARINE

The standard-bearers of the Kriegsmarine did not have a gorget, the sleeve patch was dark blue or white. It depicted two crossed banners.

Banners of this type were awarded only to coastal units of the fleet.

The banner of the Kriegsmarine is a square with a side of 126 cm with a gold fringe.

On the left side was a white medallion in a wreath of golden oak leaves, a black swastika with a black and white border. Banner field - dark blue, the corners are white with a golden border. In the corners are the Iron Cross and gold anchors.

On the right side were the Iron Cross in a medallion instead of the swastika and the Wehrmacht's golden eagles in the corners instead of the Iron Crosses.

The shaft, pommel and ribbons are like those of army banners, the inflow, brackets, pommel and plates on the ribbons are gold. The inscription and fringe on the award ribbon are also gold.

Some color photography:

Everyone knows about the Victory Parade, which took place on June 24, 1945. Everyone also remembers famous footage newsreels and numerous photographs, like 200 German flags and standards captured as trophies Soviet troops, were thrown to the foot of Lenin's mausoleum. But few people know about future fate these trophies. There are many legends about this. Some say that the flags were burned along with the platform on which they were thrown, others claim that they personally saw photos of this. Still others know for sure where these flags were kept, while others have seen them with their own eyes in our time. To shed light on this little known fact and this little article was born.

According to the memories former boss The General Staff of General Shtemenko, the idea with German flags belongs, of course, to Stalin. Allegedly, at the end of May 1945, he instructed the generals: “It is necessary to bring the Nazi banners to the parade and shamefully throw them at the feet of the winners. Think about how to do it." The scriptwriters of the parade had to urgently engage in historical research. As a result, our soldiers, who carried fascist banners, had to carry out complex restructurings, which were used by legionnaires ancient rome. And the idea of "public execution" of enemy banners was borrowed from the great commander Alexander Suvorov, in whose troops there was a ritual of "neglect not to the enemy, but to his defeated military distinctions."

For the front box of the battalion, it was necessary to have 200 military banners and standards. However, the military did not have such a number of captured flags. It should be noted that in the Third Reich, banners were awarded from 1936 to 1939, one per battalion, squadron or battery. Units formed during the war no longer received banners. An exception was the Führer's guard battalion, which received the banner (standard) on September 30, 1939. Moreover, on August 28, 1944, Hitler ordered all banners and military flags to be taken out of the front zones to Wehrmacht museums. Thus, the Red Army did not have the opportunity to capture battle flags enemy, even in the event of encirclement and defeat of enemy military units.

A way out of the situation was found by SMERSH employees, who kept records and control of both army regalia and museum valuables taken under "reparations". 900 banners were "borrowed" from the museums of Berlin and Dresden, as well as from trophies collected by SMERSH units. They were brought and stacked in the gym of the Lefortovo barracks. Of these, the special commission selected 200 banners and standards for the parade. They were selected according to their shape and "beauty". As a result, about 20 banners of military units of other historical periods, among them two Prussian cavalry standards of 1860 and 1890, as well as a banner militia 1860s. A lot of standards were not related to the Wehrmacht, but belonged to various units of the Nazi Party, public organizations or simply were the state flags of the Third Reich. However, they had a colorful appearance and the right size. So the flags of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, the German Labor Front, the Imperial Labor Service, the Hitler Youth got to the parade. Since at that time there were simply no specialists versed in the intricacies of Nazi symbols, therefore it is pointless to make any claims to them today. On the selected banners for the parade, SMERSH compiled lists that have survived to our time, and testify that a number of banners were attributed military units which never existed in nature. There is an opinion that the list was compiled according to the inscriptions on banner brackets, and not on flags. At least, only 20 banners that participated in the parade can be reliably identified, thanks to photographs of the first line of the parade battalion.

During the "public execution" of enemy banners, another symbolic action was used, which is still "savored" by journalists, memorialists and writers on military topics. Allegedly, the front-line soldiers, who were partially among the standard-bearers, flatly refused to take up the banners of the "lepers", and in order to find a consensus with them, they put on gloves to the entire battalion. Yes, not simple, but leather, Brown color according to the statute. And the skin of this color was not found in the entire Union, so we had to urgently import it by plane from abroad. True or not, but in the photographs all the flag bearers are wearing gloves. Leather or not - do not make out.

According to the scenario of the parade, the Nazi flags were to be thrown to the allotted places to the left and right of the mausoleum on the bare asphalt. Today there is a version (you can easily find it on the Internet) that they threw banners on a special wooden platform so as not to desecrate the asphalt, and then burned the flags along with it. True, the photographs clearly show that there is no platform. Eyewitnesses and participants also do not remember him. And at the expense of burned already obvious nonsense. If they burned, they would take pictures, otherwise, why organize an action, if not for PR. But, there are no photographs. And secondly, some of the supposedly burned flags still exist today.

There were also "eyewitnesses" who saw how the battalion of standard bearers took off their gloves and threw them into special boxes, which were then burned outside the city. Of course, there is no evidence to the contrary, but it is hard to believe that in a post-war country where trousers were in short supply, soldiers would burn such foreign goods. If they themselves would disdain to wear, then they could easily exchange it for something substantial. Not up to "fat" was at that time.

After the parade, - says Elena Anisimova, senior researcher at the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (CMVS), - about 500 captured banners according to the inventory were transferred to the Central Museum of the Red Army. “These were not only the banners of the Wehrmacht, but also state and party flags Nazi Germany. In the 50-60s, by decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, they were transferred to representatives of the GDR (more than 100 banners), to the museums of the Bulgarian people's army and the Polish Army. And in the early 90s - to US museums (about 10 units),” the curator concludes her story.

According to some reports, part of the Nazi flags and standards ended up in the Theater Soviet army. Subsequently, they were also allegedly handed over to the TsMVS, but no documentary evidence of this was found.

Now 200 flags and standards of the Third Reich are part of the TsMVS Znamenny Fund, most of of which are kept in storage. It is not known which part of them is genuine, and which part has been replaced with dummies and copies, since the storage of banners is a very troublesome business and they fail very quickly, which is why they are vacuumed once every few years. In addition, the demand for such German Nazi paraphernalia on the black market is very, very high.

Based on materials from sites: http://www.bolshoyvopros.ru; https://www.crimea.kp.ru; https://kv-bear.livejournal.com; http://www.naslednick.ru; http://inosmi.ru.

1935-1945

On April 11, 1935, the "Regulation on the Standard of the Leader and State Chancellor" established:

The standard of the leader and state chancellor is an equilateral, bordered with black-white-black border, a red rectangle, carrying in a white circle framed with golden oak leaves, a black hooked cross (swastika) with a black-and-white border. In the four corners of the standard, an eagle on a hooked cross (swastika) in an oak wreath and an eagle are alternately located armed forces, all in gold.

On September 15, 1935, at the NSDAP party congress in Nuremberg, among other "Nuremberg Laws", the "Law on national flag"(das Reichsflaggengesetz), which established:

1. State colors - black, white and red.

2. The state and national flag (die Reichs- und Nationalflagge) is the flag with the swastika (die Hakenkreuzflagge). It is also a trade flag.

3. The Chief and State Chancellor will establish the form of the state military (die Reichskriegsflagge) and the state service flag (der Reichsdienstflagge).

On October 5, 1935, an order was issued on the state military flag, the guis of warships, the commercial flag with the Iron Cross, the flag of the state minister of war and the commander in chief of the armed forces:

The state military flag (die Reichskriegsflagge) is a red rectangular panel, on the middle axial line of which, closer to the pole, there is a white circle bordered twice in black and white with an inclined hooked cross (swastika), the lower hook of which is facing the pole. Under the white circle lies a cross divided four times by white and three times divided by black, the continuation of the crosses of which are the vertical and horizontal diameters of the white circle. In the inner upper red field (in the roof) is placed Iron Cross bordered in white. The height of the flag is related to its length as 3:5.

Guys of warships (die Gösch der Kriegsschiffe) - a red rectangular panel, on the middle axial line of which, closer to the pole, there is a white circle with a hooked cross set at an angle, the lower hook of which is facing the pole. The height of the flag is related to its length as 3:5.

Trade flag with the Iron Cross (die Handelsflagge mit dem Eisernen Kreuz) - depicting the Iron Cross in upper corner a red rectangular panel, on the middle axial line of which, closer to the pole, there is a white circle with a black hooked cross set at an angle, the lower hook of which is facing the pole. The height of the flag is related to its length as 3:5.

The flag of the State Minister of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (die Flagge des Reichskriegsministers und Oberbefehlshabers der Wehrmacht) is the state military flag with the following differences: the cloth is equilateral, on all sides the flag has a white and black frame, in the upper field at the pole and in the lower field at the free the edge of the flag depicts the Iron Cross in a white border, in the lower field at the staff and in the upper field at the free edge of the flag, the eagle of the armed forces is depicted, circled in white.

On October 31, 1935, the “Regulation on the State Service Flag” was issued, which established:

The state service flag (die Reichsdienstflagge) is a red rectangular panel bearing a black hooked cross with a black and white frame in the middle on a white circle, its lower hook facing the pole. In the inner upper corner of the flag is the black and white highest sign of the state (das Hoheitszeichen des Reichs). The eagle's head is facing the pole. The height of the flag is related to its length as 3:5.

On May 8, 1945, the act of military surrender of the armed forces of Germany was signed, on May 23, 1945, the state existence of Germany was terminated and occupation authorities The USSR, USA, Great Britain and France banned all types of German flags in all four occupation zones.

In 1949, a black-red-gold flag was adopted in the FRG and the GDR, which was used in the 19th century as the flag of the German Union and a symbol of German unity, and in 1919-1933 as the flag of Germany (the GDR added the coat of arms of the GDR to the center of the flag in 1959 ).

Sources

History of the German flag

Today the German flag is famous for its rectangular shape, which consists of a black, red and golden stripe. All these stripes are arranged horizontally, anyone who looks at such a flag will unmistakably declare that this is a flag famous state Germany. However, the appearance of the German flag has its origins in the distant past, starting with the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. Yes, and it is a fact that the predecessor of the modern German flag was none other than the emblem and flag of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation.

History of the German flag. Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation

Up to and including 1410, the coat of arms depicted an eagle with a red beak and claws on a golden background. Together with the black and gold combination, it formed the imperial coat of arms. The same eagle, from 1410 to 1806, symbolized the imperial and royalty. As you know, the Habsburg family emblem was a red lion depicted on a golden shield, and their colors on the coat of arms were red and yellow. In 1273, Count Rudolf 1 of Habsburg became Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation. It was he who first connected the family coat of arms of the Habsburgs. Over time, each subsequent emperor applied the flags of subject states to the shield. When the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation ceased to exist in 1806, last emperor was Austrian. He helped to preserve the image of a black double-headed eagle on gold color on the coat of arms. As for the color of the coat of arms, black and gold color has been preserved. Up until 1918, these colors remained the dynastic colors of Habsburg Austria-Hungary.

Confederation of the Rhine 1806-1813

In 1795, France occupied the territory of several small states along the left bank of the Rhine River. After a series of agreements, the Cisrhenian Republic was formed. It should be noted that this republic did not last long. Two years later, these lands came under the final rule of France. In this territory, the departments of the Rhine and Moselle, Mont-Tonnerre and Sarre were reorganized. On February 9, 1801, the incumbent Holy Roman Emperor fully recognized French authority in the annexed territory of the left bank of the Rhine. Its flags were of red, white and green horizontal colors.

However, in 1806, July 12 happened historical event. Under the ultimatum of Napoleon 1, as many as sixteen small states immediately decided to withdraw from the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. As a consequence, the confederation of the Confederation of the Rhine was formed. In this case, Napoleon became her patron. Twenty-three other states followed this example in 1808. However, after the defeat of Napoleon in 1813, this union broke up, but the colors of the flag of the Confederation of the Rhine continued to be preserved.

1815-1866 German Confederation and the formation of the flag

The German Confederation was formed on June 8, 1815. Initially, it consisted of 39 states, but in 1866 only 32 remained. On March 9, 1848, a flag was officially adopted in Frankfurt am Main, which has a color scheme of black, red and gold. Thus, the German Union had a continuation of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. However, as a result Austro-Prussian War On the twenty third of August, the German Confederation ceased to exist in 1866, it dissolved in Augsburg. What happened next?

1868-1870 North German Confederation

As a result of the war in 1867, twenty-one German states united with Prussia. As a result, the North German Confederation was formed. Under Prussian rule, Chancellor Count von Bismarck-Schönhausen insisted that the North German Confederation have the colors of the flag black, white and red. Why exactly? The fact is that white and red are the colors of Prussia. But, and white and red is the color of the coat of arms and the flag of the Hanseatic cities. This idea completely appealed to King Wilhelm of Prussia1. The colors of Prussia and Brandenburg were simultaneously combined on the flag. Most of all, he liked the fact that the flag did not have the color gold or yellow, which was also available. Russian Romanovs and the Habsburgs. Oddly enough, black-red-gold supporters did not mind. On the contrary, they believed that the most important thing was the unity of the German nation, and under what flag it did not matter to them. However, there were times of change.

Revival of the German Empire 1870 - 1919

Times of change came when the South German states of Hesse, Wurtmeberg, Baden and Bavaria entered the North German Confederation on November 25, 1870. Already on December 10 of the same year, this union was renamed the German Empire. However, this did not affect the colors of the flag in any way. They were still black, white and red.

German Republic 1919-1921

After the defeat of Germany in the First World War, as well as the November Revolution, military constituent Assembly. This event took place on August 11, 1919 in the city of Weimar. It was here that the decision was made to create German Republic. In doing so, it was determined that the flag would be unchanged with the colors of black, red and gold.

Nazi Germany 1935-1945

On March 12, 1933, the flag was changed again. The then president, Peil von Hindenburg, decided that the swastika would now be raised along with the black-and-white and red flag. This decision was due to the fact that these flags connected the past German state and its modern energy revival. Now only the military flag was hung out at all institutions.

Already in 1935, namely on the fifteenth of September, it was announced that this particular flag was the national and state flag. At the same time, it was assumed that the national and state, it was also a military flag, black-white-red with a swastika.

According to Hitler's design, on October 5, 1935, a new flag was approved, which in its design was a bit like a military flag. It had a base of red cloth and a swastika.

However, as such, the state of Germany ceased to exist on May 23, 1945. It was related to military surrender armed forces. The entire territory of Germany was divided into four occupational parts.

Flag of the German occupation zones from 1945-49

After the end of World War II, the occupying authorities completely banned the use of any German flag. Accordingly, all occupation zones were left without a flag as such. In order to be able to distinguish German naval vessels and boats, the Charlie flag was used through 1951.

Flag "Charlie"

Times of Change 1949

The historic event took place in Bonn on May 8, 1949. Then, the Parliamentary Council, which consisted of all representatives of the occupation zones of Great Britain, the USA and France, gathered, adopted a decision on the Basic Law of Germany. Accordingly, it was decided that now the federal flag of Germany will be black-red-gold. As a result, for the first time since 1933, a flag of such a combination of colors was flown on the territory of Germany.

May 23, 1949 entered into force new law. Already in 1950, on June 7, the standard of the German flag was fully established. At the same time, its exact dimensions, shades and ratio of each strip were indicated. These colors were to be worn by all commercial ships from December 8, 1951. Already in 1996, the use of the federal flag with the same colors was allowed, only in a vertical form.

Federal flag standard

In 1996, the standard of the President's federal flag was confirmed without any changes. It depicted a soaring eagle facing the pole. It was on a gold-colored rectangle with a red border.

This flag has not changed since 1950. Also this year, the flag for federal agencies. Which also had a soaring eagle facing the pole. Only its background consisted of horizontal colors of black, red and gold. So, as you can see, german flag has undergone many changes throughout its history. As a result, he acquired the original colors, although in his history he had the risk of complete extinction.