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Borkum Island (East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany)

Borkum City, Stadt Borkum

Last modified: 2005-09-10 by santiago dotor
Keywords: lower saxony | niedersachsen | east frisia | ostfriesland | borkum | canton (east frisia) | cross (white) | circle (white) | text: latin |
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[Borkum Island (East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany)] 3:5
by Santiago Dotor, based on the image in van Heijnigen 1998
Flag adopted 1929

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Description

The description in van Heijnigen 1998 [available online at the Der Flaggenkurier website, image here] is (translated):

The flag shows in green a white cross whose arms have a width of 3/13 of the flag's length; the canton is striped black-red-blue horizontally. On the intersection of the cross is a blue disc, its diameter half the height of the flag. On the disc is displayed a red lighthouse, radiating from which are yellow beams on either side; the lighthouse rests on a floating green hill with white wavy bars beneath. On the rim of the disc is written in black capital letters "mediis tranquillus in undis" [latin, meaning "calm in the midst of the waves"].
The flag was adopted in 1929 and first hoisted in 1930. Black-red-blue in the canton is of course the East Frisian flag (which of course does not stand for serenity, love and fidelity as the otherwise well-researched article claims!)

It is interesting to note that the flag was adopted before the arms which are quite different, see Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website. Stadler 1964-1972 also describes the flag, but doesn't mention the wavy bars. Keyser 1939-1974 (1952) also mentions a flag for Borkum (presumably the same), describing it as "similar to the English flag (!), with a green field".

Stefan Schwoon, 27 March 2001

The Borkum flag was established in Sept. 28th 1929, by local teacher Jacob Everts Teerling; first hoisting in public was on the beach promenade July 31st 1930. Its present form was given in the 1950's by Borkum resident Henning Hobein. Source: van Heijnigen 1998.

Gerd Winkelmann, 12 March 2002

Mediis tranquillus in undis (Calm in the midst of the waves): Borkum's latin motto dates back to that of Willi