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
Upon the Nazi Party's "Machtergreifung" when Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933, the "democratic" colours quickly fell out of use, though they were not officially abolished. By order of March 7, two days after the German federal election, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg re-introduced black, white, and red as official decorations on the coming "Volkstrauertag" public holiday. Alongside the swastika flag of the Nazi Party, the imperial colours were restored as a provisional national symbol, subject to a final decision by the German government. The concurrent Nazi flag also used a combination of black, white, and red colours, but not in the same way as the old flag of the German Empire. Instead, the socialist red was the dominant colour.