Black flag
The all- black flag is the primary symbol of anarchist movements, but it is also used as a general flag for resistance . Provided with additional symbols it can take on numerous other meanings.
Icon color
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Along with red, the color black is probably the most symbolic that can be found on flags. Both colors are characterized by their inherent ambiguity. While red stands for rule as well as revolution, black can be seen as a symbol of death , but also of freedom . Traditionally, black is not only the color of mourning in the Christian world; in India, for example, this color is also used as a mourning color in connection with the cult of the goddess of death Kali . The oldest known, purely black flags are those of the Arab Abbasids , which they are said to have shown as an expression of vengeance . Older references to black flags can also be found in 14th century France , where they were used as a warning of the plague . Black flags are also known, which were used by pirates and privateers in the 17th and 18th centuries and often showed additional symbols, such as the illustration of skulls and human bones.
If the color black has a long tradition as the “color of death”, it was not until the 19th century that it also acquired its meaning as the “color of freedom”, which signals to the enemy that he is absolutely ready to die in order to achieve his own goals. So-called black “avenger clothes” ( Theodor Körner ) appeared for the first time during the Wars of Liberation around 1813/15, when Freikorps members dyed their civilian clothing black due to a lack of uniform material.
As a national flag, black flags - like other single-color banners - were rarely used. This is obviously due to the lack of the possibility of symbolically constituting different basic directions through different colors. Only in Afghanistan were there versions that were made on black cloths until 1929.
The black banner is a flag that is used by many Islamist terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda , the Taliban and the Islamic State organization and is said to go back to Abū Muslim and the Abbasid caliphate .
Political symbolism
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The first black flags with political symbolic power probably appeared for the first time in France at the beginning of the 19th century, Jules Michelet dates them as early as the French Revolution, when they fluttered on the towers of Notre-Dame. During the July Revolution of 1830 and then during the workers' uprisings in Lyon in 1831, black flags were used, which soon spread throughout France as an expression of desperation and willingness to resist. The French newspaper "Le Drapeau Noir" ("The Black Flag"), which appeared until 1882, is one of the first written evidence of the use of the black flag by the anarchists. In connection with Louise Michel , a well-known member of the Paris Commune , reports are made about the use of the black flag that she waved over an unemployment demonstration on March 9, 1883. Shortly afterwards, the black flag also spread in the USA. Paul Avrich reports that the black flag appeared at an anarchist demonstration in Chicago on November 27, 1884. According to Avrich, August Spies wrote that " this was the first occasion on which the black flag was rolled out on American soil ".
Since then, the black flag has become more and more popular as a symbol in anarchist circles. It wafted over the territory of the Ukrainian Machno during the Russian civil war as well as over the anarchist militias of the Spanish civil war . To this day it is considered an important anarchist symbol and has also become the name of the punk band Black Flag . Often, the anarchist flag is divided diagonally into triangles to focus on a particular trend. For example, the flag of eco-anarchism is green-black, that of anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism is red-black, etc.
After the end of the First World War , the black flag was also used for various nationalist protests. An example is the resolution of the Hungarian National Assembly of November 1920. Due to the military defeat and the consequent compulsory relinquishment of territory, it was considered necessary as a sign of mourning to hoist a black flag on all public buildings in addition to the national flag. The same was done at all posts along the Hungarian border.
Black flags in Germany
Weimar Republic
Apart from the rather harmless uses during the " Hambacher Fest " in 1832, the first black flags appear to have appeared in Germany at the time of the uprisings in Upper Silesia and the subsequent vote in 1920/1921. In protest against an order from the French city commandant of Bytom , who forbade the raising of the black-white-red flag at the burial of the victims of Polish insurgents, the German population decided to raise black cloths as a sign of mourning. Black flags also accompanied the protest against the negotiations between the Reich government and a delegation from the International Voting Commission.
Freikorps, military and youth leagues
The origin of the flag of the so-called Sturmabteilung Roßbach , a volunteer corps in East Prussia led by Gerhard Roßbach is well documented . In September 1919 the Reich government demanded that the Freikorps be sworn in. Roßbach was of the opinion that nobody had expressly ordered the swearing-in in the imperial colors and so he had the oath taken on a black flag with a white "R" and two white stripes on the front and a deer antler and one between on the back the cross on the poles was provided.
Other volunteer corps that wielded black flags were the 1st and 2nd Courland Infantry Regiments of the so-called "Iron Division" , which also had an Iron Cross surrounded by the battle cry "Better dead as a slave!" Or a skull and a black and white -red Gösch showed.
During the Weimar Republic , various military and youth leagues took over black flags from the Freikorps: the " Wehrwolf " also displayed an iron cross, a skull and on the back a " wolf tang ". A Viking ship marked with an “E” was emblazoned on the black flag of the “ Bund Wiking ”. Black flags with various symbols were also used by the “ Schilljugend ”, the “ Freischar Schill ” and the “Jugendbund der Adler und Falken ”, whereby the “humiliation by the Versailles Treaty ” was given as a motive for the use of black colors .
In this context, a legislative proposal by the National Socialist Reichstag member Gregor Strasser is also interesting . Similar to Hungary in 1920, he proposed on June 29, 1926 that the flag of the German Empire be changed:
“For the duration of the Treaty of Versailles, the flag of the German Empire is black. The final flag of the German Empire is the flag under which the liberation struggle is carried out ”.
The minutes of the meeting show that this proposal was not discussed further.
Black flags gained considerable momentum again at the end of the 1920s, when the Bündische Jugend and the rural people movement used them for their political purposes.
Bündische Jugend
Due to its fragmentation, the youth movement never succeeded in developing a uniform symbolism. After all, in 1928 various groups tried to achieve a uniform appearance for all associations abroad by agreeing to use the trade flag of the republic (black-white-red with black-red-gold jack) on their trips outside the German borders in addition to the Balkenkreuz respectively. However, opposition soon arose from the downright right-wing “ Young National Federation ”. In a manifesto published in 1928 it said:
“In the grudging thought of ten years of German lack of freedom, the Jungnationale Bund hoisted the black flag on November 11, 1928 at its meetings and camps and at encounters with young foreigners. At the same time he calls on all of Germany's people, conscious of the people, to follow his example. The black flag does not mean mourning or lamentation, but confession and appeal. The flag of distress and bondage becomes the flag of resistance and the struggle for freedom ”.
This appeal subsequently found approval not only in many other youth movements, but also in other extreme right-wing political movements. Between the politician and writer Ernst Niekisch and the leaders of various radical national leagues, an agreement was reached in 1929 on a desired “youth campaign”. This rally, planned for the spring of 1930, was supposed to be a powerful protest against the so-called “ Young Plan ” - a payment plan that regulated Germany's reparations payments. Black flags should be shown everywhere as a means of protest. These probably only played a significant role in Göttingen , as elsewhere the demonstrations could already be stopped in the initial phase by means of heavy police operations. It is known, however, that a piece of black cloth, about 6 meters long and taken from an imperial flag, was presented at the rallies in Göttingen. After reading out a declaration and demonstratively burning the Young Plan and the Weimar Constitution in an open fire, the demonstrators moved into the city center, where they were finally dispersed by a police operation. At these "actions of the Youth" also involved the National Socialist student and the National Socialist Student League .
Rural people movement
The rural people's movement , which originally emerged as a pure protest movement, soon established itself as a political force to be taken seriously. An expression of this was the peasant demonstration on August 1, 1929 in Neumünster , during which violent clashes broke out between the demonstrators and the police forces present. A major trigger for the tumult was to be found in a black flag that was carried along with a white plow and a red sword. The tip of the flag showed a straight, forged scythe. This black flag was probably made by Peter Petersen, a member of the so-called "Landbund". From his own autobiography it is clear that he originally wanted to use a simple and plain black cloth. However, he wrongly assumed that black flags with a Bundschuh depicted on them had already been used in the Peasant Wars 1521–1525 and therefore intended to use a historical model as the basis for his flag.
However, there is evidence that no uniform flags were used in the course of these wars; Florian Geyer , mentioned by Petersen, used a brown-yellow-green banner with a flail and a scythe crossed on it. Since Petersen suspected that the Bundschuh would no longer be understood as a symbol, he decided instead to attach a plow and a sword to the black cloth. The interpretation of the sword and the plow occurred for the first time in a novel by Hans Fallada published in 1931 with the title “ Peasants, Bonzen and Bombs ”, in which the white plow was interpreted as a symbol of peaceful work and the red sword as an expression of defensibility. The flag produced in this way by Petersen was confiscated by the police after the demonstration was violently broken up, as it was viewed as a sign of rioting.
As a result of the judicial process that was carried out later, which resulted, among other things, in the solemn return of the flag, the rural people's movement and its banner attracted a great deal of attention from the population. The flag eventually became the generally recognized symbol of the peasant protest movement and was featured in the title head of numerous new rural folk newspapers.
time of the nationalsocialism
Soon after they came to power in 1933, the National Socialists began to smash the right-wing spectrum of the political landscape, including non-political associations and all kinds of associations. One of the first measures of the new regime was therefore the dissolution of various youth organizations.
The flags carried by the confederations - including black ones - were usually willingly handed over to the flames to demonstrate the new unity with the Hitler Youth . There have been attempts to continue to present black flags, for example in the so-called “ Greater German Bund ” led by Admiral von Trotha , which had black flags drawn up on a Bundestag in March 1933; The Nazi regime mistrusted all declarations of loyalty by Trotha, who ultimately had to order the dissolution of the federal government. Although efforts were still being made in 1930 to establish the black flag as the “ blood and soil ” symbol and flag of the “coming Reich”, these ultimately failed due to the rigorous persecution policy of the National Socialists.
The last known case of an official use of the old flags dates back to November 1933, when the Mecklenburg peasantry was presented with a black flag of the rural people's movement. Notable exceptions to the suppression of black flags are the versions used in the SS and in the German Jungvolk . While the influence of the Italian fascists ("black shirts") is openly visible in the SS, the shaping influences of the ethnic and Bundish youth can be seen in the German young people. This sub-organization of the Hitler Youth showed its symbols on a black cloth both with its “Jungbannfahne” and its “Fähnleinfahne”.
Surrender 1945
After the surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945, the last commander of the submarines, Karl Dönitz , issued orders from the Allies to all submarines in enemy waters to surface and to turn on the navigation lights as a sign of surrender and a black or blue one Raising the flag.
Federal Republic of Germany
As early as the early 1950s, the black flag played an important role again when it was used as a symbol of protest when collieries were closed or farmers' marches.
In the 1960s, the neo-anarchist spontaneous movement rediscovered the black flag of anarchy , which is still the central anarchist symbol today.
At the end of the 1960s, it found its way back into the camp of right-wing organizations. Under the leadership and on the initiative of the then right-wing extremist Henning Eichberg , right-wing groups resorted to the black flag as a symbol of protest. Eichberg was also the lyricist of a song known in right-wing extremist circles "Black Flag".
To this day, black flags are often shown by groups on the extreme right. With this they try to tie in with the symbolism of the national revolutionaries of the 1920s. It is also occasionally used as an expression of protest at plant closings.
International
Worldwide, the black flag is the primary symbol of anarchist movements. Critical groups that have emerged since the 1990s such as CrimethInc. refer to them further by writing: “ To raise a black flag to demonstrate our aversion to flags sounds nonsense - in times when so many flags are raised that flaglessness is interpreted as passive acceptance, such nonsense likes however make sense. In any case, a black flag is better than a white one! "
New Zealand
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A black flag with a silver fern is a national symbol of New Zealand and is used as a symbol by sports clubs such as the All Blacks and the Military Forces. There are efforts in New Zealand to make the silver fern flag the official flag of the state. There is no reference to anarchism in the silver fern flag.
Hong Kong
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In the wake of protests in Hong Kong 2019/2020 is of the democracy movement , a black version of the Flag of Hong Kong ( English Black Bauhinia flag ) as a sign of protest. Often the stars (which symbolize the Communist Party of China ) are left out and a wilted Bauhinia flower is sometimes shown.
Web links
- The black flag in anarchist history. ( Memento from June 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- Dieter Scholz: Black flag. In: Lexicon of Anarchy .
Individual evidence
- ^ Wolfgang Strauss: Nation or Class. Munich 1978, p. 107.
- ↑ Barbara Tuchman: The distant mirror. Munich 1986, p. 101 ff.
- ^ Karlheinz Weißmann : Schwarze Fahnen, Runenzeichen , Düsseldorf 1991, p. 111.
- ↑ Jules Michelet, L'Histoire de la Révolution francaise, 7 volumes (1847-1853) German quote: "Nevertheless, when one saw the gloomy black flag on the towers of Notre-Dame on the 9th morning from all corners of the city, when one saw ... "(page 435 in Jules Michelet, History of the French Revolution: Volume 3, 1931, Hoffmann and Campe)
- ^ Roland Gaucher: Le drapeau noir. Miroir d l'histoire, No. 224/1968, p. 29.
- ↑ George Woodcock Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements . Penguin Books, 1963
- ^ Paul Avrich: The Haymarket Tragedy. Pp. 144-145.
- ↑ Robert Michels: The psychology of the anti-capitalist mass movements. In: Grundriss der Sozialökonomik , IX. Department, Part 1, Tübingen 1926, p. 344 ff.
- ↑ Ernst Nolte: The fascist movements. Munich 1975, p. 204.
- ↑ Hambach-Journal , Ludwigshafen 1982, p. 1.
- ^ Arnolt Bronnen: O. S. , Berlin 1929 div.
- ^ Arnolt Bronnen: Rossbach. Berlin 1930, p. 77.
- ↑ Otto-Ernst Schüddekopf : National Bolshevism in Germany 1918–1933 . Frankfurt / Main 1973, p. 482.
- ↑ Die Standarte , Heft 16/1926, p. 381.
- ↑ Das Junge Volk , issue 11, 12/1928, p. 180 ff.
- ^ Walter Kayser : For the ten-year return of the armistice. In: The Coming . No. 45/1928, p. 550.
- ↑ Ernst Niekisch: The action of the youth. Berlin 1929
- ^ Karlheinz Weißmann: Black flags, rune signs. Düsseldorf 1991, p. 117f.
- ↑ Peter Petersen: Fliegender Sand. Norderstedt 1985, pp. 66,68.
- ^ Wilhelm Zimmermann: The great German peasant war. Berlin (GDR) 1989
- ↑ Hans Fallada : Bauern, Bonzen und Bomben (1931), Hamburg edition 1984
- ↑ Herbert Volck: Rebels for Honor. My struggle for the national uprising 1918–1933. Gütersloh 1933, p. 335.
- ^ Paulus Buscher : The stigma. "Edelweiss Pirate" , Koblenz 1988
- ↑ Großdeutscher Bund, Newsletter No. 3 (June 1933)
- ↑ August Georg Kenstler: Under the black peasant flag. In: blood and soil. Issue 1/1930, sheet 1
- ^ Völkischer Beobachter . No. 328, November 24, 1933
- ↑ Black flag not asked. In: The world . January 8, 1951
- ↑ CrimeThinc .: Fight for our lives. An Introduction to Anarchism. In: Gabriel Kuhn : “New Anarchism” in the USA. Unrast Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89771-474-8 , p. 81.
- ↑ Oscar Holland CNN: Designed as a symbol of unity, Hong Kong's flag becomes the focus of protest. Retrieved May 28, 2020 (English).