Flag of Germany
The national flag of Germany has the form of a rectangular cloth, consisting of stripes of black, red and gold, which are located horizontally.
Black and gold colors began to be used in the Middle Ages on German coats of arms. Black symbolized strength, courage and the great German past. A little later, red was added to these two colors..
It is interesting that in the era of the liberation war aimed at fighting Napoleon, the Jena student union was created in Germany. Most of its members used black and red for their designation. In 1816, the female population of Jena, as a token of deep gratitude for the courage of the city's students, presented the union with a red-black-red flag, decorated with a golden oak branch, hand-embroidered on it. It was from that time that the student union of the city of Jen adopted this tricolor flag as its symbol. From those days, the combination of black, red and gold began to be seen as a symbol of opposition in the form of bourgeois democratic forces. But for German students and liberals in the post-Napoleonic era, the black-red-gold tricolor was recognized as a symbol of the struggle for the unification of the country. The explanation of the symbolism on the part of the patriots of Germany characterized the tricolor as follows: black meant a gloomy dark night of reaction; red - the blood of fighters shed in the struggle for democracy and freedom; gold has become a symbol of the sun of freedom, which should rise over the entire country. But the famous German poet Ferdinand Freilingrath had his own interpretation of the tricolor: «Gunpowder is black, the blood is red, the flame casts gold».
As the national state flag of Germany, the flag in black-red-gold was approved for the first time only in 1919. The black-red-gold combination has become a symbol of the idea of a single free and democratic «The great» Germany and Austria.
It should be noted that Hitler adopted the black-white-red color combination of the flag, as such a symbol of the unity and prosperity of the empire helped to win over the monarchists and the conservative bourgeoisie to his side. It is for this reason that such a tricolor as black-white-red became the national banner of Nazi Germany. With the defeat of Nazi Germany, the victorious countries adopted a ban on the use of all Nazi symbols. This prohibition also extended to the flag. Therefore, the flag of the new federation again became the black-red-gold banner, symbolizing unity and freedom..
