Saxony-Anhalt unofficial Flags used in 1990 (Germany)

Inoffizielle Flaggen aus Sachsen-Anhalt 1990

Last modified: 2019-04-20 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: saxony-anhalt | anhalt | fläming | flaeming | coat of arms (barry: black-yellow) | coat of arms (crancelin: green) | coat of arms (wall: red) | coat of arms (bear: passant) | coat of arms (bear: black) |
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• Introduction
• State Flag used on 3rd October 1990
• Anhalt Hanging Flag 1990
• Fläming Region 1990-1991

• Provisional Flags for the New States used in 1990
• Attributed Flags for East and Central German Territories 1950s-1960s
• Historical Flags (Saxony-Anhalt / Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany)

After the reintroduction of Länder in the German Democratic Republic in 1990 there were several flags that were used inofficially in Saxony-Anhalt. The simple black-yellow bicolour of Saxony-Anhalt (1946-1952) was probably the most common one. However in Anhalt (...) the old Anhalt colours were displayed. (...) For the reunification celebrations on 3 October 1990 the organisation committee decided to use a flag vertically black-yellow (...). In Fläming, a region of Saxony-Anhalt, the regional flag of green-yellow was also used in 1990-1991.
Sources: Schurdel 1995, Laitenberger and Bassier 2000, Kuhn 1991 and Günther 1996. (...) The law on the new symbols was passed 20th December 1990 and enacted 30th January 1991.

M. Schmöger, 8 Mar 2001

For the reunification celebrations on 3rd October 1990 the organisation committee decided to use a quite astonishing flag. It was a vertically divided bicolour of black-yellow with the arms of 1948-1952 in the centre. The new Land had not yet adopted an official flag, so they used this design to distinguish the flag from the horizontal black-yellow Baden-Württemberg flag (fig. 8 in Kuhn 1991).
M. Schmöger, 7 Mar 2001

Was that flag ever used again? One would think that any official circumstance needing a flag between 3 October 1990 and the date of approval of the current flag would be an opportunity to use the vertical black-yellow flag.
Santiago Dotor, 8 Mar 2001

I do not know about the [later] use of the vertically divided flag. However, I would think that in most cases the old horizontal bicolour of black-yellow (used from 1946-1952) was used. At least in Saxony-Anhalt itself there would have been no problem with mixing the flag up with the Baden-Württemberg flag. However, in cases when all Länder flags were shown together, probably the vertically divided flag was shown (not very often, though).

M. Schmöger, 8 Mar 2001

Please note that the Saxony-Anhalt flag was divided vertically, but the coat-of-arms was slightly off centered to the mast. Also the coat-of-arms had a white surrounding. According to the Ministry of Interior (Bundesinnenministerium) the flags in Berlin were 240 x 400 cm [i.e. proportions 3:5], but the manufacturer of those flags told that they were made in 200 x 335 cm [slightly over 3:5].
Also please note that there are no two hammers on the coat-of-arms but a hammer and a mallet.
Ralf Stelter, 9 Mar 2001

In 1990 (...) in Anhalt, especially in Dessau (former capital of Anhalt) the old Anhalt colours were displayed, sometimes as a vertical flag with the old arms (1924-1935). Sources: Schurdel 1995, Laitenberger and Bassier 2000, Kuhn 1991 and Günther 1996.

In Fläming, a region of Saxony-Anhalt, the regional flag of green-yellow was also used in 1990-1991. This flag is about 100 years old and is based on a regional arms design. The yellow stands for sandy soil and the corn-fields, the green for the forests.
Sources: Schurdel 1995, Laitenberger and Bassier 2000, Kuhn 1991 and Günther 1996.
M. Schmöger, 7 Mar 2001

The Fläming is a region and a hill chain that reaches over 100 km between the rivers Elbe and Dahme in the German states of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. The name originates from the 12th century, when as part of the German eastward expansion Flemish colonists came from the overcrowded cities of Flanders to settle down in the region. Politically the region was divided between the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, the Bishopric of Brandenburg, the County of Brehna and the Margraviate of Meißen, the later Electorate of Saxony. Brandenburg before the Protestant Reformation owned next to nothing of the area. After the defeat of France and Saxony during the Wars of Liberation (1813) against the French foreign rule the whole Fläming was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia.
Sources: German WIKIPEDIA,
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 12 Apr 2019

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