Flag of Bremen

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The Bremen "Bacon Flag"

The Bremen flag is the official flag and emblem of the city of Bremen and the state of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . It is striped at least eight times in red and white and rolled on the flagstick and is colloquially known in Bremen as the “bacon flag” - albeit also from official sources.

The state flag contains the Bremen coat of arms in the form of the flag coat of arms with a key and three lions. The authorities usually use a flag with the central state coat of arms as the official flag .

The flag of Bremen bears the colors of the Hanseatic League and many Hanseatic flags as well as the imperial colors: red and white.

Appearance

The Bremen state flag with a large state coat of arms on the Bremen town hall

The appearance is determined by Article 68 of the state constitution of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen :

"The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen has its previous coats of arms and flags."

The regulations for this were laid down in the announcement concerning regulations on the Bremen coat of arms of November 17, 1891 (Bremen State Coat of Arms announcement, StaatsWBek):

§ 1 - “The great Bremen coat of arms is formed by a gothic silver key in a red shield that is inclined to the right and the beard is turned to the left. A golden crown rests on the shield, which shows five (visible) prongs in the shape of a leaf above the ring adorned with precious stones. The shield rests on a console or on a band-like pedestal and is held by two erect, backward-looking lions with their front paws. The middle coat of arms is formed by the same key in the red shield crowned with the gold crown. The small coat of arms is only formed by the same key without a shield. "[...]
§ 6 - “The national flag is striped at least eight times in red and white and lined along the flagstick with the number of red and white cubes corresponding to the strips, alternating in two rows. The number of red and white stripes should always be even. In the middle the flag has a square white field, in which, if it is striped at least twelve times, the large coat of arms described in § 1 is shown, but with the modification that a crowned helmet with a red and white helmet cover takes the place of the crown ; the crest is formed by a growing lion facing to the right, who holds the coat of arms key vertically with his paws and his beard turned to the left. If the flag is only striped eight times, the middle field receives the middle coat of arms described in § 1. "

history

The shape and location of flags on cogs and other large Central European ships from the late Middle Ages can be clearly seen on the city seal of the Hanseatic city of Elbing from 1350: a wind flag in the form of a narrow pennant ("Flüger", Low German: vlugher, vluegervögel) and up was blowing at the top of the mast the aft fort had two cantilever flags or banners , one of them with the symbols of the city's coat of arms. We neither know the colors (presumably red and white) and shape of the Bremen pennant at that time, nor do we know whether it was used uniformly. It was not until 1770 that the oldest relevant image source shows a red, white and red striped wing.

There are also no references to medieval flags. Only an isolated picture tradition connected with the date 1573 shows some ships with square flags with the key symbol in the top . Whether such flags of Bremen already existed in the Middle Ages, as an analogy to the representation of ships' flags on the seals of Elbing or Stralsund, is likely, but cannot be proven. The oldest evidence of the multi-striped flag ("Speckflagge") is a detail on a copper engraving by Johann Landwehr from the year 1661. This is followed in the 1690s by the engravings on the silver hangings of the Seeschiffer-Brüder-Deathkasse. These examples are not yet marked with the vertical squaring along the flagstick, but in 1695 the (here ninefold) striped flag as we know it today is shown in a Dutch ship's manual. Until the official regulations in the 19th century, the number of stripes varied, and the coat of arms was only rarely incorporated into the trade flags. The meaning of the four-stripe blue over white, allegedly Bremen flag, recurring on various printed flag boards of the 18th century, remains unclear.

Around 1847–1849, ships in Bremen were temporarily showing the black, red and gold colors. From 1867/68 they carried the black-white-red trade flag of the North German Confederation at the stern and only occasionally the Bremen flag in the fore-top . In the German Empire from 1871, the imperial colors remained binding for the trade flag. The red and white stripe and cube motif was also part of many Bremen shipping company flags and the numbered flags that were hoisted around 1820 to 1860.

It was only relatively late that, as elsewhere, the Bremen flag became an urban identification symbol on land and a patriotically charged festival decoration alongside its use at sea.

In 1891 the first regulations on the Bremen state and official flags were issued (see above). They contain the Bremen key coat of arms . Even today the middle coat of arms is shown on the service flag. The great coat of arms of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen developed in the 16th and 17th centuries with two lions, a crown and a helmet. In the 19th century it was added to the Bremen state flag and is still used as the Senate flag today .
The use of the "civil flag" without a coat of arms is not subject to any legal restrictions.

variants

If a coat of arms is to be used, the middle coat of arms is in the middle for eight stripes and the large coat of arms for twelve stripes.

Current flag variants

Historical flag variants

Others

  • From 1971 on, the Werder Bremen team played in the red and white colors of the bacon flag for almost three years.
  • The key bin (also known as the Bremen bin ) in the Outer Weser is colored red and white.
  • All Seenotkreuzer the DGzRS wear as Gösch the bacon flag.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Internet presence of the Bremen town hall
  2. ^ Article 68 of the state constitution of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen . Transparency portal Bremen, accessed on April 15, 2016 .
  3. § 1 and § 6 Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the announcement, regarding regulations on the Bremen national coat of arms of November 17, 1891 (Bremen State Coat of Arms Announcement, StaatsWBek), Brem.GBl. P. 124
  4. Image: Elbing City Seal, 1350
  5. Painting of a Bremen buoy in: Johannes Lachs: Schiff aus Bremen , Bremen 1994, p. 40
  6. ^ Copy of a missing view of the mouth of the Lesum from a Cornelius Rützen, Bremen State Archives . Fig. In Karaschewski, Bremen flag, p. 16.
  7. Herbert Schwarzwälder : View of Bremen , 1985, Fig. 42.
  8. ^ Alfred Löhr: Bremer Silber , Bremen (Focke-Museum) 1981, cat. Nos. 137 and 138.
  9. Karaschewski, Bremen flag, p. 20.
  10. Karaschewski, Bremen flag, pp. 78–84.
  11. ^ Konrad Elmshäuser: Die Deutsche Nationalkokarde , in: Bremisches Jahrbuch , vol. 77, 1998, p. 86.
  12. cf. the ship pictures in: Johannes Lachs, ships from Bremen, p. 166, 170.
  13. Peter Michael Pawlik: From the Weser to the World , Vol. 3, Bremen 2008, p. 17. (Shipping company flags from 1855–1862)
  14. So far the oldest evidence: Schiller celebration on the market square, 1859. (Lithograph in the Focke-Museum , Inv. No. G.455).
  15. SV Werder Bremen's online article about jersey colors  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.werder.de  

literature

See also

  • Hanseatic flags
  • Bremen coat of arms

Web links

Commons : Flags of Bremen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files