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.
Lützow Free Corps
Throughout the 19th century, these anti-Napoleonic Free Corps were greatly praised and glorified by German nationalists, and a heroic myth built up around their exploits. Inasmuch as many Lützow Free Corps veterans took part in the first Wartburg festival of 1817, demanding German unity and democratic reforms, the black-red-gold color scheme formed by the combination of black cloth, red trim, and brass buttons on their uniforms would later become associated with republican and nationalist (or Pan-German) ideals. During the Hambacher Fest of 1832 and Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, flags with these colors were used, if even often displayed in reverse order compared to modern day's flag of Germany. This combination, reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (whose heraldic coat-of-arms depicted a black eagle on a shield of gold, often in later times with red beak and legs), was selected as the official national colors of the German flag in 1919, and again in 1949.