Weimar Germany Navy War Ensign

A favourite among my collection. This is a war ensign for the German Weimar Republic dating from the 1920s. The original plan was to make the flag match the new national flag with the black, red, gold design we know today. This was seen as an insult by the many men who fought under the old black, white red flag and still considered the defeat in WW1 as a stab in the back by politicians. A compromise was made where the colours of the old empire were kept, with the Prussian iron cross placed in the middle and the new Weirmar flag inserted as a canton in the top left.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933 they changed the design to remove the Weimar colours from the flag. Many of these flags that still exist today have the Weirmar part covered up by black material to comply with the Nazi regulations. These new flags only lasted for two years and new Flag laws of 1935 replaced all of them with Hitler's new swastika design.

Picture 1: My Weimar flag (1920 - 1933)
Picture 2: The proposed flag that was never used (1919)
Picture 3: Hitler's first changes (1933 - 1935)
Picture 4: The new Nazi Reichskriegsflagge (1935 - 1945)