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Last modified: 2021-12-18 by 
klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: lindau(county) | per pale | hand | gonfanon | fess(wavy) |
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![[Lindau County banner (- 1972)]](../images/d/de-li972_.gif)
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image by Stefan Schwoon, 16 Oct 2001
Lindau is presently the only county in Bavaria without a flag, which is odd seeing as the old county Lindau did have one, and its territory hardly changed. Just the city of Lindau was incorporated in 1972.Source: Linder and Schmidt 2000.
Those new Bavarian flags make an interesting display. I especially like the heraldic content in them.
Something I picked up through stamp collecting was the fact that during the Allied Occupation of 1945-52, Kreis Lindau was administratively not part of Bavaria. It was included, for some reason, into the French Zone, and formed part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern. As such it used the French-issued stamps of Württemberg (discontinued in 1949, when the federal republic was formed).
In 1952, when Südbaden (French Zone), Württemberg-Hohenzollern (French Zone) and Württemberg-Baden (US Zone) were consolidated into the new state of Baden-Württemberg, Lindau was returned to Bavaria.
This means that from 1945 to 1952 Lindau County also used the black-over-red colours of Württemberg-Hohenzollern.
Mike Oettle, 9 Aug 2003
Landkreis Lindau was included in the French Zone of Occupation to provide a land bridge between the French Zones in Germany and Austria.
The exact status of the county between 1945 and 1955 is not clear to me. According to some sources, the area remained a part of Bavaria and formed a "Land" of its own within the French zone, according to other sources it had ties to Württemberg-Hohenzollern. Does someone else have a more definitive answer?
Mike's remark brings me to another issue: The official name of the land formed in the southern part of Baden from 1945 to 1952 is "Land Baden". Not "Land Südbaden". The term "Südbaden" is occasionally (and inofficially) used to provide a clearer distinction between this land and the larger geographical entity that is normally meant when speaking of "Baden".
This page and this one mentions this term.
Stefan Schwoon, 15 Sep 2003
Lindau belonged to the French Occupation Zone, but was still considered part of Bavaria, therefore having a special status. It was never part of Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and therefore never used the Württemberg-Hohenzollern flag. Quite the opposite: until the adoption of the Bavarian constitution (defining, inter alia, the Bavarian flag) on 1st December 1946, the Bavarian flag was not allowed in the American Occupation Zone, whereas the French had allowed the use of the Bavarian flag earlier (proclamation of the county president Groll, 8 May 1946). This led to the weird situation, that the Bavarian Prime Minister, Wilhelm Hoegner, was greeted with Bavarian flags during his visit to Lindau, 19 August 1946, but he was not entitled to use the flag in his part of Bavaria.
Source: Wilhelm Hoegner (1959) Der schwierige Außenseiter. München (Isar-Verlag), p. 262, 273.
M. Schmöger, 25 Sep 2003
What puzzles me about Lindau's status is a remark on the webpage of the county, which states that the county sent three delegates to the "Beratende Versammlung" (advisory assembly) of Württemberg (I suppose that either Württemberg-Hohenzollern or Baden-Württemberg is meant).
Stefan Schwoon, 25 Sep 2003
"White-red with the arms in white bannerhead. In 1973, the (previously county-free) city of Lindau was integrated into the surrounding county and the arms of the county were changed. The sinister half of the arms shows the arms of the Counts of Montfort, a red gonfanon, which is also used by the Austrian state of Vorarlberg, with which Lindau county shares a border."
Sources: Linder and Schmidt 2000, arms image from Stadler 1964, p.57
Stefan Schwoon, 24 Aug 2001
![[Lindau County banner reported 2017]](../images/d/de-li_.gif)
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image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Dec 2021
It is a white-red vertical bicolour. The coat of arms is shifted towards the top, which was however not yet approved officially.
Sources: this photo and confirmed by phone call from Mr. Kurz from the Bavarian State Archives on 16 December 2021.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Dec 2021
The old coat of arms was approved on 28 November 1956. The hand (...) was the symbol of the imperial convent of Lindau, which owned many estates in the Western part of the county. The banner [actually a Kirchenfahne or gonfanon] (...) is taken from the arms of the Counts of Montfort, who also held many parts of the county. The waves in the base of the arms are a symbol for the Bodensee [Constance] lake, on which the county borders.
Source: Stadler 1964, p.57
Santiago Dotor, 31 July 2003
New Coat of Arms:
Shield Argent abased parted by a bar wavy Azure, at dexter an eradicated linden Vert, at sinister a gonfanon Gules with three annulets of the same at top fringed Or at bottom, chief lozengy of Azure and Argent.
Meaning:
The current county was established in 1972 by a merger of the former namesake county with the county-free city of Lindau. The chief is symbolising that the county has been a part of Bayern since 1805. After WW2 the county was separated from Bayern as part of the French occupation zone. In 1955 it was reunited with Bayern. The linden is taken from the arms of Lindau City. The gonfanon is taken from the family arms of the Counts of Montfort ansd is representing the northern and eastern parts of the county and had already been part of the former county arms. The counts donated much land in the current county to the Cistercian Mehrerau Abbey. The bar wavy is symbolising the location on the shores of the Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance.
Source: Erich Dieter Linder and Günter Olzog (editors): "Die deutschen Landkreise: Wappen, Geschichte, Struktur" Augsburg 1996, p. 97
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Dec 2021
The arms were approved on 14 April 1978 by district governor (Regierungspräsident) of Schwaben. In 2016 the county had no proper banner. The source is from 2017. Maybe the county meanwhile has adopted a banner, but that is not for sure.
The old arms were approved on 28 January 1956, the old banner was approved on 22 January 1958. The symbols were abolished on 30 June 1972.
Stefan Schwoon, 16 Oct 2001 and Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Dec 2021
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