Civil Flag 1913-1954 (Berlin, Germany)

Last modified: 2004-12-29 by santiago dotor
Keywords: berlin | bear (black) |
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3:5
by Jaume Ollé

• Description

See also:

• Historical Flags (Berlin, Germany)
• Prussian Historical Flags (Germany)
• Berlin (Germany)
• Germany

In 1913, on the initiative of Ernst Friedel, a flag of red-white-red with the bear in the centre was created.

Jaume Ollé, 27 April 1998

Like the modern flag, but with the bear in the centre. Until 1935 the bear [w]as show[n] in several designs because no official details existed. Sigmund von Weech designed the official bear 12 July 1935 and it was added to the city shield in October and also to the flag.

Jaume Ollé (?), 17 May 1998

According to Stadler 1966, p. 93, Berlin did not have an official pattern of the arms between 1920 (creation of Greater Berlin) and 1934/35. Only in 1934/35 the already informally used arms —a black bear, armed and tongued red on a silver shield— were fixed. It was a design created by Sigmund von Weech which was adopted in 1934/35 and continued by the Magistrate of [East] Berlin from 1946 until the reunification of Berlin in 1990. Stadler 1966 also reports that the present flag (i.e. the West Berlin flag 1954-1990) was in unofficial use since 1912. The conclusion would be that there was no other design in the period referred by Jaume Ollé.

Dieter Linder, 30 April 1998