Flag of East Germany
The state flag of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany): black, red and gold horizontal stripes with the state emblem, a hammer and a pair of compasses in a wreath of grain, in the centre. A law of 1 October 1959 added the emblem; the flag went out of use at German unification on 3 October 1990.
Meaning
The GDR’s law of 26 September 1955 made the state flag three stripes of equal width, black at the top, red in the middle and gold at the bottom, in the proportion 3:5, and described the state emblem as a hammer and compasses surrounded by a wreath of ears of grain, bound at the bottom with a black, red and gold ribbon. The amending law of 1 October 1959 put the emblem in the middle of the flag on both sides, its diameter a third of the flag’s length. It is a museum object now: the Museum Wolmirstedt in Saxony-Anhalt catalogues paper hand flags printed with the three stripes and the hammer, compasses and wreath, and identifies them as the state flag of the GDR.
Origin and history
Both German states chose black, red and gold in 1949. The Bundestag writes that the Parliamentary Council voted, with one vote against, for the colours of the unity and freedom movement and of the first republic, and that the GDR chose the same colours. From 1959 the GDR added its emblem. The Federal Agency for Civic Education’s chronicle gives the reason: the flag was to symbolise the GDR’s separate statehood and set it apart from the Federal Republic and what the GDR called its “Alleinvertretungsanmaßung”, its presumption to speak for all Germans. The so-called “Spalterflagge” (“splitter’s flag”), the chronicle adds, could at first not be hoisted in the Federal Republic. On 3 October 1990 the Basic Law came into force in the eastern states, and the black, red and gold flag became the flag of reunified Germany.
Telling it from the flag of Germany today
The stripes are the same: black, red and gold, of equal width, black at the top. The flag of the Federal Republic has no emblem. Under the 1955 law the GDR’s flag had none either, so until 1959 the two German flags were alike; the hammer, compasses and wreath in the centre are what tell the GDR flag apart.
The president’s standard
The 1955 law also gave the president of the GDR a standard: square, with the state emblem in the middle on a red ground, edged in the GDR’s colours and finished with a gold fringe. The emblem was half the standard’s size and the edging a twentieth.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of GermanyThe same black, red and gold stripes, without the hammer, compasses and wreath.Read next
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- The same shape in Adinkra symbolsAnanse Ntontan (spider’s web)Ananse Ntontan, “spider’s web”, is the adinkra symbol of wisdom and creativity, after Ananse, the spider of Akan stories.
See also
Jolly Roger, Blackbeard’s flag, Calico Jack’s flag, Bartholomew Roberts’s flag, Emanuel Wynne’s flag, Vexillum.
Sources
- Gesetz über das Staatswappen und die Staatsflagge der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (1955), Gesetz über das Staatswappen und die Staatsflagge der DDR vom 26. September 1955, Gesetzblatt der DDR Teil I 1955 Nr. 90, S. 705 (scan), Gesetzblatt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, via gvoon.de, GBl. I 1955 S. 705, §§ 1–3
- Gesetz zur Änderung des Gesetzes über das Staatswappen und die Staatsflagge der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (1959), Gesetz vom 1. Oktober 1959, Gesetzblatt der DDR Teil I 1959 Nr. 54 (6 October 1959), S. 691 (scan), Gesetzblatt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, via gvoon.de, GBl. I 1959 S. 691, § 1
- Die Flagge (Deutscher Bundestag), Deutscher Bundestag, “Symbole: Flagge”, Deutscher Bundestag, Farben der Einheits- und Freiheitsbewegung
- 1. Oktober 1959 (bpb, Deutschland-Chronik), Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Deutschland-Chronik, “1. Oktober 1959”, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 11. Regierung und Innenpolitik
- Flagge der DDR (Museum Wolmirstedt), Museum Wolmirstedt, object A_2081.03, on museum-digital:sachsen-anhalt, Museum Wolmirstedt, Beschreibung
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles, lines or squares and rectangles.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 14, 2026. How we research
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