Germany Flag

How to identify it

Three equal horizontal bands: black on top, red, then gold. Black at the top distinguishes it from Belgium (vertical) and from the black-red-gold arrangements used elsewhere.

Design and construction

Proportions

3:5

Adoption and legal status

23 May 1949 in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic

Construction

Three horizontal bands of equal height; the state flag adds the federal eagle shield.

Officially documented meaning

Article 22 of the Basic Law states only that the federal flag is black-red-gold. No official symbolism is attached to the individual colours.

History of the design

The colours are associated with the Lützow Free Corps uniforms of the Napoleonic wars and with the 1848 Frankfurt Parliament. They were used by the Weimar Republic, dropped under the Nazi state, and restored in 1949. East Germany used the same three bands with a state emblem until 1990.

Similar flags

Compare the details that separate these designs.

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  Belgium

  Belgium uses black, yellow and red in vertical bands.

Sources