Unofficial Flags used in 1989-1990 (Brandenburg, Germany)

Last modified: 2013-12-14 by german editorial team
Keywords: brandenburg | coat of arms (eagle: red) | coat of arms: inescutcheon (blue) | coat of arms: inescutcheon (sceptre: yellow) |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

3:5
by Jens Pattke

• Unofficial Flag used 3rd October 1990
• Unofficial Flag used 1989-1990

See also:

• Provisional Flags for the New States used in 1990
• Attributed Flags for East and Central German Territories 1950s-1960s
• Brandenburg (Germany)
• Germany

The best picture I have of these flags is the photo in Kuhn 1991, p. 18. But even there you cannot see much — flags are flying, and the more interesting ones are not clearly visible. (...) For Brandenburg the flag is very similar to the one used today, red-white horizontal bicolour with arms. However, the eagle in the arms seems to be a bit different, even though such differences cannot be seen clearly.

Marcus Schmöger, 13 May 2001

The source for my image is a photo (scan here) in Horizont (a weekly magazine for politics and economy), no. 40/1990, VEB Verlag für die Wirtschaft, Berlin (East), 1990. The eagle has a different look to that of the present eagle (...) All these flags were hoisted before the Reichstag on 3rd October 1990 as provisional flags for the celebration of the first German Unity Day.

Jens Pattke, 17 May 2001

by Jens Pattke

After the peaceful revolution of 1989, people in the new states of the German Democratic Republic used several unofficial flags. (...) For Brandenburg, the flag with the arms showing a red eagle, with the former inescutcheon of the Electors of Brandenburg.

The source for my image is Heinz Machatschek, Visitenkarte der neuen Länder der DDR (Visiting cards of the new GDR states), a series of articles in Junge Welt (Young World, the organ of the central committee of the Free German Youth), September 1990.

Jens Pattke, 17 May 2001