Germany’s state flags
Sixteen Länder, most of them flying two plain stripes, with the city-states and a few others adding a bear, a castle or a horse.
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Germany was a patchwork of kingdoms, duchies and free cities until 1871, and its federal states still fly colours from that world. Most have two versions: a plain civil flag of stripes, and a state flag with the coat of arms added. Several of the newer states, drawn up after 1945, simply put their arms on the national black, red and gold.
The south
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Bavaria
White and blue lozenges, the arms of the Wittelsbach dynasty that ruled Bavaria for over 700 years.
Baden-Württemberg
Black over gold, the colours of the old Duchy of Swabia.
Hesse
Red over white; the state flag adds a striped lion.
Rhineland-Palatinate
Black, red and gold, with the state arms in the canton.
Saarland
Black, red and gold with the arms of the lands that made up the Saarland.
The north and west
North Rhine-Westphalia
Green, white and red, with the Rhine, the Westphalian horse and the rose of Lippe.
Lower Saxony
Black, red and gold, with the white Saxon horse on red.
Schleswig-Holstein
Blue, white and red horizontal stripes.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Five stripes in blue, white, yellow, white and red.
The east
Saxony
White over green.
Saxony-Anhalt
Black over gold, with the state arms.
Thuringia
White over red; the state flag adds a striped lion among eight stars.
Brandenburg
Red over white, with the red eagle of Brandenburg.
The city-states
Berlin
A black bear on white between two red stripes.
Hamburg
A white castle with three towers on red, the old flag of a Hanseatic port.
Bremen
The Speckflagge: red and white stripes, chequered at the hoist.
On the globe
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