The German Flag During World War II

 

The Danube, Rhine and Main river basins cut through wooded hills and mountains across Germany’s central and southern areas. However, by the north the topography flattens out and wide stretches of plain are found. These are bordered by low mountains and the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark, Poland and Austria.

In 1871, Otto von Bismarck led the unification of northern Germany flag ww2 into the Kingdom of Prussia. The black, red and gold colors of the Prussian monarchy became the national flag in 1871, and was retained until the end of the German Empire in 1918.

The Germany Flag in WW2: Understanding Its Evolution and Significance

After World War I, the Weimar Republic readopted the black, red and gold colors, but this change was not well received by many Germans. They saw the new colors as a humiliating reminder of their country’s defeat and loss of territory in World War I, which also caused them to be saddled with a crushing amount of war reparations.

The new black-red-gold Reichskriegsflagge was used by some military units (particularly the 2nd Marine Brigade commanded by Fregattenkapitan Ehrhardt – core of the reactionary Kapp Putsch of 1920). It was also the flag used as a personal standard by Adolf Hitler when he was the Reichsprasident – although it was not technically legal for such use under the 1921 Flag Ordinance. In the early years of the Third Reich, the room for individual manoeuvre was increasingly squeezed by official flag regulations, as the Nazi Party sought to prevent any expression of personal political preferences in public.