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President's Standard 1933-1935 (Germany)

standarte des reichspräsidenten

Last modified: 2020-07-26 by pete loeser
Keywords: third reich | nationalsocialist | president | reichspräsident | eagle (black) | bordure (white) | bordure (faceted) |
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#1
   
[President's Standard 1933-1935 (Germany)] #2
Image by Fornax/M. Schmöger
   
Image by Dieter Linder/Santiago Dotor
 Flag adopted 22nd April 1933, abolished 1935

Note: There is still an unresolved debate about the number of feathers and the tail design that was used on the 1933 version of the presidential standard, thus we show both versions here. The question arrises from the fact that there were two versions of the standard in use before 1933 and probably both versions were in use at the same time. - Pete Loeser


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Descriptions and Opinions

This is identical with the previous standard except for having a black, white and red border (from the outside). Used from 1933 to 1935, at least officially. After [President Field-Marshal] von Hindenburg's death in 1934, the position of president was combined with that of [Leader and] Chancellor as Führer und Reichskanzler and Hitler pointedly never used the title (out of respect for von Hindenburg, he said). Nonetheless, the law combining the positions would have authorized his use of the standard. I do not know whether he actually did. Illustrated in Crampton 1990 p. 43.
Norman Martin, 1998

There is also a (black and white) photograph of the standard in Davis 1975. Using Dieter Linder's image of the 1921 (and current) standard, I have prepared an image of the 1933-1935 one [refering to #2].
Santiago Dotor, 9 April 2001

On 22 April 1933, the standard was altered by providing a tricoloured rather than a red border. The ordinance does not mention the number of feathers. However, Davis 1975 has a 1933 foto which clearly shows the '5 feather' version. But Reichsministerium des Innern 1934 clearly shows the '6 feather' version. Neither mentions any changes.
Norman Martin, 4 May 2001

The above image [refering to #2] of the presidential standard 1933-35 shows a wrong design.
Andreas Herzfeld, 24 February 2002

Image from M. Schmöger, 28 August 2012

Marcus Schmöger and Klaus-Michael Schneider both inform me that there is still an unresolved debate about the number of feathers on the pre-1933 presidential standard, and from which of the two versions was the 1933 standard derived. They personally feel that probably both versions were used at some time.
Regarding the 1933 standard, we do have two versions of an official source (in FOTW bibliography [d9e33b] and [d9e34b]) that show the standard as attached here (This scan is from the 1933 publication), however, we do not have any source photography showing the actual flag, which might be different from the officially described one.
Pete Loeser, 28 August 2012

The German vexillological bulletin Flaggenkurier #16 reports about German flags that were used at the time. Mr. Rüdiger F. Dreyhaupt is author of this article Deutsche Nationalflaggen. He writes:

"Obwohl angeblich kein Bedarf für eine Änderung der Standarte des Reichspräsidenten gesehen wurde, ist diese doch mit der "Zweiten Verordnung über die vorläufige Regelung der Flaggenführung" vom 22. April 1933 dergestalt vorgenommen worden, dass der rote Rand durch einen schwarz-weiß-roten ersetzt wurde. Die Streifen sind gleich breit. Schwarz liegt außen. Die Breite des Randes verhält sich zur Flaggenhöhe wie 1 : 10. Gleichzeitig erhielt der schwarze Adler eine leicht veränderte Gestaltung (Abb. 352}.

Offensichtlich war auch diese graphische Gestaltung der Reichspräsidentenstandarte Wandlungen unterworfen. Ein zeitgenössisches Foto zeigt den Fahrer des Reichspräsidenten eine Kfz-Standarte haltend, deren Adler viel gestreckter, moderner gestaltet worden ist und dessen Flügel nun wieder fünf Federn aufweisen. (Abb. 353). Möglicherweise ist dies eine Variante als Kfz-Ständer."

My bad translation ( The text refers to the presidential standard of 1926-1933):

Although supposedly no need for a change in the standard of the President was seen, but this is the "Second Regulation on the provisional rules of flag usage" of 22 April 1933 was carried out in the form that the red edge was replaced by a black-white-red edge. The strips are the same width. Black is on the outside. The width of the border is to the flag height with 1: 10. At the same time received the black eagle a slightly modified design. [Image #1]

Obviously, this graphic design of the standard of the President has undergone changes. A contemporary photograph shows the driver of the presidential car holding a car standard, the eagle has been made much more stretched, and its modern wing again have five feathers. This may be a variant used as a car standard. [Image #2]

Certainly both types were used. First, the eagle had six feathers, later the eagle had five feathers. The change was not officially made known. He was either being secretive or was drowned out by the propaganda.
Jens Pattke, 28 August 2012


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