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Brandenburg State 1945-1952 (Germany)

Mark Brandenburg

3:5 | stripes 2+1+2
by Jaume Ollé
Flag adopted 15th December 1945 (coat-of-arms 16th November 1945), abolished 23rd July 1952

Introduction
Coat-of-Arms
Civil and State Flag 24th October - 15th December 1945 (Provinzflagge)
Civil Flag 15th December 1945 - 23rd July 1952 (Provinzflagge)
State Flag 15th December 1945 - 23rd July 1952 (Dienstflagge)
Coat-of-Arms
Rank Flags of Brandenburg State/Province 1945-1990

See also:

Historical Flags (Prussia, Germany)
Attributed Flags for East and Central German Territories 1950s-1960s
Brandenburg (Germany)
German Democratic Republic 1949-1990 (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)

Introduction

Rimann 1996 reports on these Brandenburg flags. The passage (translated) is:

Till 1945 the colors of Brandenburg were red and white, the arms showed the red Brandenburg eagle on white. On 24 October 1945 the presidency of the Provincial Administration of Mark Brandenburg decided, "The colors of the province are red and white in the arrangement of red, white and red." "The colors of the state are red, white and red" was also stipulated by the constitution of Mark Brandenburg from 6 February 1947.

On 16 November 1945 the presidency voted for new arms: "Red, white and red, in the white fess an oak tree in front of a rising sun, in the upper red field a shield in the colors of the City of Brandenburg (blue, white and green), in the lower the number 1945".

It should be added also that Steinbruch 1997, a newly published article in the well-known heraldic magazine Herold-Jahrbuch, states the above mentioned facts.

In the constitution not adopted before 6 February 1947, article 1, paragraph 3 fixes: "Die Landesfarben sind rot-weiß-rot" [= "The state's colors are red, white and red]. The problem is in my opinion that the first arms were described as red with a silver/white fess. But what is the exact width of a heraldic fess? There are only heraldic customs, but no rules in this respect. Regularly the fess is presented narrower than the upper and lower field created by it. Thus it seems to be understandable that a flag deriving from the arms would have unequal stripes.

On the other hand, the Austrian arms are also described as "red with a silver fess", but the flag shows equal stripes of red, white and red! Until we have more exact information —and in my opinion Pascal Vagnat seems to have the best one— the flag was clearly to be red, white and red, but the writers of the laws forgot to