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State Flag, State Ensign and War Flag (Germany)

'Federal Service Flag', Bundesdienstflagge

3:5
by Marcus Schmöger
Flag adopted 7th June 1950

Description
Usage
Hanging Flag (Banner)
'Federal Shield' (Bundesschild)

See also:

Ensigns and other Naval Flags
State flag with coat-of-arms instead of 'federal shield' (unofficial variant)
Germany

Other sites:

Geändertes Design des Bundesadlers (Redesign of the Federal Eagle, German text only) by Jörg Karaschewski

Description

According to Smith 1980 this design is the state flag, and also the state ensign and war flag (although the simple tricolour could be used as the state flag, too).

Carsten Linke, 14 June 1996

The state/war flag is the same [as the war ensign], but without the swallow-tail cut-out.

Tom Gregg, 10 January 1997

Identical with the Flag of Government Authorities on Land 1921-1933. Fundamentally the state flag and ensign. Adopted 1950. Illustrated in Pedersen 1971 p. 30, Smith 1975, p. 227 and Album des Pavillons 1990, p. 17.

Norman Martin, February 1998

The coat of arms, as shown in Smith, is situated slightly shifted towards the hoist, so it looks centered when the wind makes the flag twist.

Ole Andersen, 14 January 1998

Smith has in general a very good accuracy record, and a quick check shows that the two Smith books do indeed show the arms shifted towards the hoist. But Album des Pavillons 1990, Reibert 1942 —the quasi-official German soldier's manual— and the official Informationen zur politischen Bildung all show the arms in the center, so that I feel I must conclude that Smith is probably in error on this issue.

Norman Martin, 14 January 1998

According to the law (Anordnung über die deutschen Flaggen of 7th June 1950, Bundesgesetzblatt p. 205, article 3) the coat of arms is indeed slightly shifted towards the hoist, but the shift is scarcely to detect. In the illustration of the official publication I measured from hoist to the coat of arms 2.8 cm, from the coat to the fly 2.9 cm. A small difference. (The height measures 4.6 cm, the width 7.4 cm in the same illustration.)

Dieter Linder, 14 January 1998

This is the Bundesflagge with the Bundesschild (federal shield, slightly different to the coat-of-arms). The shield is slightly shifted to the hoist, according to the legal prescription: Anordnung über die deutschen Flaggen (Instruction on the German Flags) of 13th November 1996, published in the Bundesgesetzblatt I 1996, p. 1729. However, there is no indication what exactly 'slightly shifted' means. The illustrations in several books show that the center of the shield is at about 49% of the length (48,7% / 49,3% / 49,4%). The height of the shield is also not clearly defined: it is up to 7/15 of the flag's height high. Sources: Laitenberger and Bassier 2000, Friedel 1968 and Bundesministerium des Innern 1956.

Marcus Schmöger, 14 March 2001

Usage

The federal service flag is the flag for federal offices only, not for any official building.

Marcus Schmöger, 25 June 2002

Hanging Flag

Banner

5:2

by Marcus Schmöger
Flag adopted 13th November 1996

In the Anordnung über die deutschen Flaggen (Instruction on the German Flags) of 13th November 1996, published in the Bundesgesetzblatt I 1996, p. 1729, there is also for the first time legally prescribed a hanging flag (Banner) version of the Bundesdienstflagge. The image I made is in proportion 5:2, as this is the most frequently found proportion for hanging flags in Germany. Sources: Laitenberger and Bassier 2000, Friedel 1968 and Bundesministerium des Innern 1956.

Marcus Schmöger, 14 March 2001

'Federal Shield'

Bundesschild

by Marcus Schmöger

The shield on the state flag has a special shape, not the same as in the coat-of-arms (even though on flags used 'illegally' by sports fans the shield often totally resembles the coat-of-arms).

Dieter Linder, 12 January 1998