This article is about the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is not to be confused with Flag of the German Empire.
Federal Republic of Germany
Use
Civil and state flag, civil ensign
Proportion
3:5
Adopted
3 July 1919; 104 years ago (1919-07-03) (original 2:3 ratio) 23 May 1949; 74 years ago (1949-05-23)
Design
A horizontal tricolour of black, red, and gold
Bundesdienstflagge und Dienstflagge der Landstreitkräfte der Bundeswehr
Use
State flag and ensign, war flag
Proportion
3:5
Adopted
7 June 1950
Design
The civil flag with the coat of arms at the centre.
Dienstflagge der Seestreitkräfte der Bundeswehr
Use
Naval ensign
Proportion
3:5
Adopted
25 May 1956
Design
A swallowtail of the civil flag with the coat of arms at the centre.
Common unofficial flag variant with the coat of arms of Germany
The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (German: Schwarz-Rot-Gold [de]).[1] The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederation. The flag was also used by the German Empire from 1848 to 1849. It was officially adopted as the national flag of the German Reich (during the period of the Weimar Republic) from 1919 to 1933, and has been in use since its reintroduction in Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
Since the mid-19th century, Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red. Black-red-gold were the colours of the 1848 Revolutions, the Weimar Republic of 1919–1933 and the Federal Republic (since 1949). They were also adopted by the German Democratic Republic (1949–1990).
The colours black-white-red appeared for the first time in 1867 in the constitution of the North German Confederation. This nation state for Prussia and other north and central German states was expanded to the south German states in 1870–71, under the name German Empire. It kept these colours until the revolution of 1918–19. Thereafter, black-white-red became a symbol of the political right. The Nazis (National Socialist German Worker's Party) re-established these colours along with the party's own swastika flag in 1933. After World War II, black-white-red was still used by some conservative groups or by groups of the far right, as it is not forbidden, unlike proper Nazi symbols.
Black-red-gold is the official flag of the Federal Republic of Germany. As an official symbol of the constitutional order, it is protected against defamation. According to §90a of the German penal code, the consequences are a fine or imprisonment up to three years.
^"Anordnung über die deutschen Flaggen" [Order concerning the German flags] (PDF) (in German). 13 November 1996. Retrieved 14 February 2012. Die Bundesflagge besteht aus drei gleich breiten Querstreifen, oben schwarz, in der Mitte rot, unten goldfarben [The federal flag consists of three horizontal stripes of equal breadth, black at the top, red in the middle, and gold-coloured at the bottom.]
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Global Information
Common unofficial flag variant with the coat of arms of Germany