Chemnitz City (Germany)

Stadt Chemnitz, Sachsen

Last modified: 2022-12-24 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: chemnitz | karl-marx-stadt | siegmar-schoenau | einsiedel | parted per pale | lion(black) | pale(blue) | hermit |
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• Chemnitz City
• Chemnitz Plain Flag
• Chemnitz Flag with Arms
• Chemnitz Ceremonial Banner
• Chemnitz Lesser Coat of Arms
• Chemnitz Greater Coat of Arms


• Siegmar-Schönau City (1936-1950)


• Einsiedel Borough
• Einsiedel Flag
• Einsiedel Coat of Arms

• Saxony (Sachsen)
• Germany

Chemnitz City

Chemnitz Plain Flag

It is a horizontal blue over yellow bicolour. The plain bicolour is the official city flag according to source, probably to avoid confusion with the flag of Leipzig, but Gunnar Staack reported that nevertheless a flag with arms is predominantly was in use within the city.
Source: §4(3) of Hauptsatzung of Chemnitz City, version 16 July 2014, last updated on 7 March 2018
Stefan Schwoon,15 Feb 2001

Chemnitz Flag with Arms

It is a horizontal blue over yellow bicolour with centred lesser arms.
Source: Gunnar Staack
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Aug 2018

Chemnitz Ceremonial Banner

It is a blue-yellow vertical bicolour, shaped like a rectangle with annexed triangle and charged with the greater arms slightly shifted towards the bottom.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.43-44
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

Chemnitz Lesser Coat of Arms

Shield parted per pale; at dexter Or two pales Azure; at sinister Or a lion rampant Sable, armed and tongued Gules.
Meaning:
The dexter half displays the arms of the Margraves of Landsberg, the sinister half those of the Margraves of Meißen, the Saxonian dukes of the Wettin kin were rulers in both territories. Since the 15th centrury the city used two complete escutcheons. The current pattern prevailed since the 18th century. In the greater arms the shield is topped by a crowned helmet, crested with two buffalo horns and 10 small banners, and flanked by plumes of Azure and Argent. The arms of Leipzig are the same but with quarters in opposite order.
Chemnitz had been named "Karl-Marx-Stadt" in 1953, in order to honour German communist philosopher Karl Marx, and renamed in 1990. The inhabitants had not been asked in 1953, but in 1990, when 70% voted for the old name. The city of Karl-Marx-Stadt basically used the lesser arms of Chemnitz as its proper arms, sometimes with a black inscription Karl-Marx-Stadt in a white rectangle fimbriated black on top of the shield (see image above). Sometimes the background of the Meißen quarter had been white instead of yellow. The Chemnitz arms, topped by a white inscription "FCK" on blue, were used by the local football club. Also there was a vertical triangular pennant with arms and colours blue and yellow, it appears that the city never had a proper flag. Photos from times of the DDR just show plain red vertical flags alternating with vertical DDR-flags in front of the city hall.
Sources: §4(2) of Hauptsatzung of Chemnitz City, version 16 July 2014, last updated on 7 March 2018, Ralf Hartemink´s webpage and here
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 Aug 2018

Chemnitz Greater Coat of Arms

The shield of the lesser arms is crested by a helm Argent with gem of the same, topped by a coronet Or and two buffalo horns Argent, issuant from horns ten branches of linden Argent each having three leaves.
Meaning:
Until 1904 the crest had been different. There had been a bulge of blue and white, later replaced by the coronet, the pair of horns had been quartered of blue and white, issuant from horns there had been five pairs of swallow tail pennants of alternating blue and white colour. They were replaced by the linden branches. The current greater arms were designed by Otto Posse, based on his doubtful assumption that it had been the crest of the helmet of Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian, who pawned the Pleißenland to the Wettin kin in the 14th century. However the crest had probably been that one of the Landgraves of Thüringen.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.43-44
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

Siegmar-Schönau City (1936-1950)

Siegmar gained city rights on 1 May 1925 and merged with the municiplity of Schönau on 1 October 1935. After WW2 it was seat of the headoffice of the Wismut AG, which depleted uranium. It was incorporated on 1 July 1950 by Chemnitz and divided into the boroughs 83 (Schönau) and 85 (Siegmar).
The city banner was a red-yellow plain bicolour.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.45-46
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

Einsiedel Borough

Einsiedel Flag

It was a white square flag with centred arms, fixed by a horizontal pole.
Source: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, pp.45-46
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

Einsiedel Coat of Arms

Renaissance shield cotised yellow-black and parted per pall reversed, above right Azure a cogwheel Or, above left Sable a plough share Or, beneath Or a hermit issuant, dressed of Sable and Azure with hood Sable, carrying a baton Maron by his dexter hand and a mattock Argent hafted Maron leaning on his sinister shoulder.
Meaning:
The Hermit (German: Einsiedler) is a canting element. The village was ruled in 1439 by the Lords of Einsiedel, whose origin had been the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland. Their family arms displayed a hermit passant dressed blue on a golden shield, carrying a mattock and an axe. The cogwheel is symbolising industries and the plough share agriculture. Einsiedel was incorporated by Chemnitz in 1996 and is since then the borough 46.
Sources: Erwin Günther: "Wappen, Flaggen und Symbole in Sachsen und seinen Stadt- und Landkreisen", Goslar 2001, p.46 and German WIKIPEDIA
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

The arms were granted on 11 November 1938. The flag was introduced on occasion of the 750-years anniversary in 1980 without approval.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 Dec 2022

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