Flag of Germany
While the use of black-red-gold had been suggested in the Soviet zone in 1946, the Second People's Congress in 1948 decided to adopt the old black-white-red tricolour as a national flag for East Germany. This choice was based on the use of these colours by the National Committee for a Free Germany, a German anti-Nazi organisation that operated in the Soviet Union in the last two years of the war. In 1949, following a suggestion from Friedrich Ebert, Jr., the black-red-gold tricolour was instead selected as the flag of the German Democratic Republic upon the formation of this state on 7 October 1949. From 1949 to 1959, the flags of both West and East Germany were identical. On 1 October 1959, the East German government changed its flag with the addition of its coat of arms. In West Germany, these changes were seen as a deliberate attempt to divide the two Germanys. Displaying this flag in West Germany and West Berlin—where it became known as the (divider-flag)—was seen as a breach of the constitution and subsequently banned until the late 1960s.
Ranks and insignia of the German Army (1935–1945)
The "Reichswehr's" visual acknowledgement of the new National Socialist reality came on 17 February 1934, when the Defense Ministry ordered the Nazi Party eagle-and-swastika, now Germany's National Emblem, to be worn on uniform blouses and headgear effective 1 May. The design adopted, in silver for the "Reichsheer" (army) and in gold for the "Reichsmarine" (navy), was a stylized eagle with outstretched, beveled wings clutching a wreathed mobile "Hakenkreuz", later to be called the "Wehrmachtsadler" ("armed forces eagle"). On tunics this took the form of a cloth patch about 9 cm (3⅝") wide worn on the right breast, above the pocket. For enlisted uniforms it was jacquard-woven ("BeVo") or sometimes machine-embroidered in silver-grey rayon, for officers machine- or hand-embroidered in white silk or bright aluminum wire, and for generals hand-embroidered in gold bullion. The backing was "badge-cloth" ("Abzeichentuch"), a close-woven velvetish fabric; this was originally "Reichsheer" grey, but in late 1935 the renamed "Heer" changed its "Abzeichentuch" color to a dark blue-green called "flaschengrün" (bottle-green).