Editing Flag of Germany (section)

=== Nazi Germany and World War II (1933–1945) ===
[[File:SS Bremen incident illustration.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Illustration depicting anti-Nazi demonstrators attacking ''Bremen'' docked in New York Harbor, United States on 26 July 1935.]]
[[File:Flag of German Reich (1933–1935).svg|thumb|3:5 {{FIAV|110110}} {{FIAV|historical}} [[Flag of the German Empire|National flag and ensign of Nazi Germany (1933–1935)]]. It used a slightly different aspect ratio than the previous flag of the German Empire. Along with this flag, the [[Flag of Nazi Germany|swastika flag]] of the [[Nazi Party]] was ordered to be flown.]]
[[File:Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg|thumb|3:5 {{FIAV|110110}} {{FIAV|historical}} [[Flag of Nazi Germany|National flag, ensign and naval jack of Nazi Germany (1935–1945)]]. An alternate centre-disc version was the flag of the [[Nazi Party]] (1920–1945) and flown jointly with the tricolour national flag (1933–1935).]]
[[File:War Ensign of Germany (1933–1935).svg|thumb|[[Reichskriegsflagge|War flag]] of [[Nazi Germany]] adopted in 1933 and abolished in 1935.]]
[[File:War Ensign of Germany (1938–1945).svg|thumb|[[Reichskriegsflagge|War flag]] of [[Nazi Germany]] adopted in 1935, with some minor changes in 1938, used by the army and navy until 1945.]]
{{anchor|Nazi Germany}}
{{see also|Flag of Nazi Germany|Reichskriegsflagge|List of German flags#Nazi Germany (1933–1945)}}

After [[Adolf Hitler]] became leader on 30 January 1933, the black-red-gold flag was banned; a ruling on 12 March established two legal flags: the reintroduced black-white-red imperial tricolour national flag and the flag of the [[Nazi Party]].<ref name="flag1933">{{cite web |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/flaggen.html |title=Erlaß des Reichspräsidenten über die vorläufige Regelung der Flaggenhissung |author=von Hindenburg, Paul |work=documentArchiv.de |language=de |trans-title=Decree of the President for the provisional regulation of raising flags |date=12 March 1933 |access-date=17 July 2010 |author-link=Paul von Hindenburg |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024195036/http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/flaggen.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="historicalFlags">{{cite web |url=http://www.loeser.us/flags/germany_note_1.html |title=The German Swastika Flag 1933–1945 |author=Fornax |work=Historical flags of our ancestors |access-date=17 July 2010 |archive-date=8 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208193101/http://loeser.us/flags/germany_note_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 15 September 1935, one year after the death of [[President of Germany (1919–1945)|Reich President]] [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and Hitler's elevation to the position of ''[[Führer]]'', the dual flag arrangement was ended, with the exclusive use of the Nazi flag as the national flag of [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]. One reason may have been the "[[SS Bremen (1928)|''Bremen'']] incident" of 26 July 1935, in which a group of demonstrators in New York City boarded the ocean liner SS ''Bremen'', tore the Nazi Party flag from the [[jackstaff]], and tossed it into the [[Hudson River]]. When the German ambassador protested, US officials responded that the German national flag had not been harmed, only a political party symbol.<ref>Brian Leigh Davis: Flags & standards of the Third Reich, Macdonald & Jane's, London 1975, {{ISBN|0-356-04879-9}}.</ref> The new flag law{{hsp}}<ref name="flag1935">{{cite web |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/1935/flaggen1935_ges.html |title=Reichsflaggengesetz |author=Government of the German Reich |work=documentArchiv.de |language=de |trans-title=Reich Flag Act |date=15 September 1935 |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-date=27 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127054521/http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/1935/flaggen1935_ges.html |url-status=live }}</ref> was announced at the annual party rally in Nuremberg,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104135248/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,749071-2,00.html "Germany: Little Man, Big Doings"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 23 September 1935.</ref> where [[Hermann Göring]] claimed the old black-white-red flag, while honoured, was the symbol of a bygone era and under threat of being used by "reactionaries".<ref name="time-magazine-1935-nazi-rally">Statement by [[Hermann Göring]], quoted in the {{lang|de|[[Völkischer Beobachter]]}} (17 September 1935) (in German).</ref>

The design of the Nazi flag was introduced by Hitler as the party flag in mid-1920, roughly a year before he became his political party's leader: a flag with a red background, a white disk and a black [[swastika]] in the middle. In ''[[Mein Kampf]]'', Hitler explained the process by which the Nazi flag design was created: It was necessary to use the same colours as Imperial Germany, because in Hitler's opinion they were "revered colours expressive of our homage to the glorious past and which once brought so much honour to the German nation." The most important requirement was that "the new flag&nbsp;... should prove effective as a large poster" because "in hundreds of thousands of cases a really striking emblem may be the first cause of awakening interest in a movement." Nazi propaganda clarified the symbolism of the flag: the red colour stood for the social, white for the movement's national thinking, and the swastika for the victory of Aryan humanity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/pimpfhitler.htm |title=The Life of the Fuehrer |website=research.calvin.edu |access-date=12 February 2021 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224164332/https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/pimpfhitler.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

An off-centred disk version of the swastika flag was used as the civil ensign on German-registered civilian ships and was used as the jack on {{lang|de|[[Kriegsmarine]]}} (the name of the [[German Navy]], 1933–1945) warships.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/1933/flaggen-kauffahrteischiffe_vo.html |title=Verordnung über die vorläufige Regelung der Flaggenführung auf Kauffahrteischiffen |author=Government of the German Reich |work=documentArchiv.de |language=de |date=20 December 1933 |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024190746/http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns/1933/flaggen-kauffahrteischiffe_vo.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The flags for use on sea had a through and through image, so the reverse side had a "left-facing" swastika; the national flag was right-facing on both sides.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.loeser.us/flags/germany_note_1.html |title=Historical Flags of Our Ancestors – The German Swastika Flag |website=loeser.us |access-date=11 December 2009 |archive-date=8 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191208193101/http://loeser.us/flags/germany_note_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

From 1933 to at least 1938, the Nazis sometimes "sanctified" swastika flags by touching them with the {{lang|de|[[Blutfahne]]}} (blood flag), the swastika flag used by Nazi paramilitaries during the failed [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in 1923. This ceremony took place at every [[Nuremberg Rally]]. It is unknown whether this tradition was continued after the last Nuremberg rally in 1938.

At the end of [[World War II]], the first law enacted by the [[Allied Control Council]] abolished all Nazi symbols and repealed all relevant laws.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ena.lu/?doc=16808&lang=2 |title=Law N° 1 from the Control Council for Germany: Repealing of Nazi Laws |author=[[Allied Control Council]] |work=European Navigator |date=30 August 1945 |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-date=10 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810090843/https://www.ena.lu/?doc=16808&lang=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> The possession of swastika flags is [[Swastika#Post–World War II stigmatisation|forbidden in several countries]] since then, with the importation or display of them forbidden [[Strafgesetzbuch section 86a|particularly in Germany]].