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Württemberg-Baden 1947-1952 (Germany)

State of Württemberg-Baden, Land Württemberg-Baden

Last modified: 2019-07-30 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: wuerttemberg-baden | land wuerttemberg-baden | quartered | bend(red) | attires(3) | chief |
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[Württemberg-Baden 1947-1952 (Germany)] 3:5 image by Jorge Candeias

See also:

State Flag

Landesflagge

Horizontal black-red-yellow tricolour. Adopted c.1947. This flag is the same as the German flag — when it was adopted in 1947 Germany did not yet have an official flag.

Norman Martin, May 1998

I guess the bottom stripe was yellow, as in the former Baden and Württemberg Landesfarben, rather than gold, as in the German national flag.

Santiago Dotor, 18 July 2000

Concerning the colour of the bottom stripe of the flag of Württemberg-Baden:

  1. The constitution of Württemberg-Baden (unfortunately I only have the draft of 15th June 1946 and not the final version, although I doubt that there was any change regarding the flag) says:
    Artikel 22
    Die Staatsfarben sind Schwarz-Rot-Gold     (The State colours are black-red-gold).
  2. The discussion of the constitution committee (Verfassungsausschuss) of 30th April 1946 on this Artikel 22 provides us with some information, how these colours came into being:
    Staatsrat Prof. Dr. Schmid: "Die Staatsfarben sind...", "Das Staatswappen ... besteht aus ..." "Das sind Dinge, die ich vorzuschlagen nicht gewagt habe." Zimmermann (SPD): "Die Lösung ist einfach: Wir verlängern die württembergische Fahne mit Gold, dann haben wir Schwarz-Rot-Gold, wie ja seinerzeit auch die Reichsfahne durch Rot verlängert wurde. Nach unseren Erfahrungen der letzten zwölf Jahre soll man die Symbole nicht unterschätzen." Präsident Keil: "Ich schlage vor, wir machen bis zur zweiten Lesung einen Erinnerungsvermerk 'Schwarz-Rot-Gold'".
    Translation:
    Staatsrat Prof. Dr. Schmid: "The State colours are ...", "The State coat-of-arms consists of ..." "These are things I did not dare to propose." Zimmermann (SPD): "The solution is simple: we add to the flag of Württemberg the gold, then we have black-red-gold, as to the empire's flag was then added the red. After our experiences in the last twelve years we should not underestimate the symbols." President Keil: "I propose we make the annotation 'black-red-gold' until the second reading."
    On 24 May 1946 the constitution committee adopted Article 22. Source: Paul Sauter, Quellen zur Entstehung der Verfassung von Württemberg-Baden Erster Teil: Februar bis Juni 1946, Stuttgart, W. Kohlhammer, 1995.

  3. The years after World War Two were quite hard in Germany: I am sure that no one bothered about the actual colour of the flag (yellow or gold). Anybody would take what kind of cloth and colour was available. So I think there was a vast array of different colours, but also proportions. Unfortunately I do not have colour photos of the Württemberg-Baden flag of this time, but just black-and-white.

M. Schmöger, 29 July 2000

State Banner with Coat of Arms

 [Württemberg-Baden w/ CoA (Germany)] image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 Apr 2014
(click on image in order to augment it)

It is a black - red - yellow plain, vertical tricolour (has the same appearance like the federal banner).
Sources: Kuhn 1991, p. 90 and Hormann and Plaschke 2006, p.194

Later in Hormann and Plaschke 2006 there are banners of the predecessors of Baden-Württemberg: All have arms. But the caption is somehow indifferent saying: "Independent from 1945 to 1952, arms and state flags of Württemberg Hohenzollern, (South) Baden, Württemberg-Baden. So in the end those flags are doubtful. In case of South Baden we have evidence from source above, which shows however the other flags without arms.
Nevertheless the arms should be described here (numbers corresponding with flags above:

Description of coat of arms:
The quartered shield shows the arms of Baden, a red bend in a golden (= yellow) shield, in the 1st and 4th quarter and the arms of Württemberg, three black attires in a golden (= yellow), shield in the 2nd and third quarter. The shield has a chief divided per fess into black over red, the colours of Württemberg.
Source:Hormann and Plaschke 2006,p.231
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 22 Apr 2014

These three are reproductions from Schroeder 1953 where you can find a whole series of hanging flags of the states, plus those of East German states (but with the pre-1933 arms) and Eastern territories under Soviet or Polish administration. The whole series is therefore very doubtful what regards the details. However, it is rather plausible that at least some usage of Württemberg-Baden flags with arms occurred.
M. Schmöger, 23 Apr 2014

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