Another German Flag Dispute

No, I am not writing about the flag dispute in the Weimar Republic, where right-wingers regarded Black-White-Red as the Reich's legitimate flag and insulted the Republic's colors as Black-Red-Mustard, referring to dark yellow rather than a golden shade.

I will inform you about the latest flag dispute, one of those typical querelles d'Allemand. A publisher in Karlsruhe started it, stating that Germany's correct colors are defined in Article 22 of our Basic Law (Grundgesetz) as Black-Red-Gold. However, these are not the RAL colors Jet black-Traffic red-Mellon yellow (RAL 9005, 3020, and 1028) that the Federal Government fixed as corporate design in 1999. Hence, the publisher sent a letter to our Federal President complaining and demanding that our constitution be followed.

Let us go back in history. According to most historians, the German colors date back to the liberation wars against Napoleon's occupation, during which the Freikorps Lützower Jäger, at their inception, did not wear uniforms. The easiest way to achieve uniformity was to dye all clothes black. But soldiers like decorations, so they added red-colored sleeves and collars to their black outfits. The buttons of their uniforms were made from brass, looking golden. When the guys started their studies after the Napoleonic Wars, they, being poor, continued to wear their uniforms. Naturally, the colors of their first Fraternities (Urburschenschaften) became Schwarz-Rot-Gold.

On a German stamp, people are on their way to the Hambach Castle in 1832.
Behind the German colors flies the Polish flag.
Many Germans supported the Polish fight against their Russian occupiers at that time.

This is why, following the Restoration, Johann Philipp Abresch, for the first time, carried a flag with the colors Schwarz-Rot-Gold - highly symbolically woven by virgins - in front of those people demonstrating for freedom from princely bondage at the Hambach castle in 1832. The original flag is now displayed at the Hambacher Schloss as a national shrine. The disputed band is interwoven with golden threads in that flag, whereas the red field carries the embroidered inscription Deutschlands Wiedergeburt (Germany's Rebirth). Few participants were still alive when the 2nd Reich was born 39 years later. Bismarck's Reich showed the colors Schwarz-Weiß-Rot, corresponding to a rather undemocratic rule.

The famous French historian Jules Michelet explained the origin of the German colors differently when he wrote on the occasion of the commemorative ceremony for the victims of the 1848 revolution in Paris's Madeleine Cathedral: Au bas, une chose retenait mes regards, tous les drapeaux des nations ... Jamais je n'avais vu le grand drapeau du Saint-Empire, de ma chère Allemagne noir, rouge et l'or, le sait drapeau de Luther, Kant, Fichte, Schelling et Beethoven. Je fus attendri et ravi ...

Well, except for Fichte, Luther could not have cared less about the colors of the old Reich, and it is doubtful that Kant, Schelling, and Beethoven were even aware of them.

This latest flag dispute would not have caught my attention except that a personal flag dispute started a few weeks ago. A reader of my web pages about Freiburg's history criticized me for writing that Abresch's flag codified the German colors. I did not make such a statement explicitly, but you may read it between the lines. Well, the guy is correct about the order of the colors: In 1848, the revolutionaries hoisted the colors of freedom, and they often chose an order different from that on Abresch's flag.

Invitation and direction for patriotic Freiburgers to make their flags

The flag carried by the freedom fighters at Freiburg's Predigertor (Gate of the Dominicans) on April 24, 1848, had neither been made Schwarz-Roth-Gold as mentioned in the text of a direction issued in Freiburg one month earlier, nor in the inverse sequence Gold-Roth-Schwarz as recommended according to the sketch in the Einladung above. The flag displayed shows Rot-Gold-Schwarz.

Fighting at the Predigertor in April 1848

Look at the flag carried by Hecker's men during their battle against government forces at Kandern on April 20, 1848, which is Schwarz-Gold-Rot.

Death of General Gagern (in the back) at the Kandern skirmish

The 48ers fought for the right cause but frequently under a false flag.

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