Flag of Germany
With the formation of the short-lived Weimar Republic after World War I, the tricolour was adopted as the national flag of Germany. Sixteen years later following World War II, the tricolour was again designated as the flag of both West and East Germany divided states in 1949. The two flags were identical until 1959, when the East German flag was augmented with the coat of arms of East Germany. Since reunification on 3 October 1990, the black-red-gold tricolour has become the flag of a reunified Federal Republic of Germany.
National colours of Germany
After World War II, Germany was occupied and divided. Both new states founded in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), took up the "democratic" colours of black, red, and gold again, with the GDR adding their own socialist symbols to their flag in 1959. As a compromise, the Olympic United Team of Germany, which had first competed in 1956, had to add white Olympic rings to the flag for the games of 1960 and 1964, and also for 1968 when two separate German teams entered under common symbols. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, East German citizens cut out the socialist symbols of the East German flag in order to show support for a unification with West Germany, which had also continued the use of the traditional eagle coat of arms, called "Bundesadler".