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Regional Flags (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany)

Last modified: 2011-06-13 by german editorial team
Keywords: mecklenburg-west pomerania | mecklenburg-vorpommern | west pomerania | vorpommern | pomerania | pommern | oxhead (black) | griffin (red) | law |
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• Introduction
• Legislation
• Mecklenburg
• West Pomerania
• Unofficial Flags with Coat-of-Arms
• Proposals for Regional Service Flags 1992

See also:

• County and Municipal Flags (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania / Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
• Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
• Germany

The flags of Mecklenburg (blue on yellow on red) and (West) Pomerania (blue on white) can still be used and must appear beside the Land flag when this one is used on public buildings.

David Lewellen, 1995 and Carsten Linke, 2 May 1996

According to law, the traditional flags of Mecklenburg or Pomerania can be used in those parts of the Land that had belonged to these entities in former times. The Landtag (regional parliament) must use the old flags of Mecklenburg and Pomerania together with the Landesflagge. As the law explicitly says Landesflagge and not Landesdienstflagge, I assume that the Landtag indeed uses the civil flag together with the simple bicolour of Pomerania (blue-white) and the tricolour of Mecklenburg (blue-yellow-red), without any coat-of-arms.

The specification sheet I received from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania government also shows these flags with specifications, so I made my images according to them. The specification sheet and the accompanying letter state (my translation), "On the flags of the parts of the Land there are no heraldic figures and no arms either".

Marcus Schmöger, 18 and 28 September 2001

The law of 7th February 1991, Paragraph 3, Line 3, reads, "In the regions of Mecklenburg and West Pomerania of the Land, the traditional colours and flags can be flown". Line 4 also says, "On official flag days, the local parliament shall fly the flag of the state, as well as, with it, the flags of the two regions".

Pascal Vagnat, 19 December 1995

3:5
by Marcus Schmöger

The traditional colours of Mecklenburg may be used in the part of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania that was formerly part of Mecklenburg, however the use of a flag with the coat-of-arms seems to me not appropriate.

Marcus Schmöger, 14 August 2000

According to the specification sheet I received from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania government, this flag (proportion 3:5) shows three horizontal stripes of blue, yellow, red. The specified colours are the same as in the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania flag: blue (ultramarinblau) is specified as CMYK 100/70/0/0 (i.e. RGB 0-77-255), yellow as CMYK 0/0/100/0 (i.e. RGB 255-255-0), red (zinnoberrot) as CMYK 0/100/100/0 (i.e. RGB 255-0-0). As Landesflagge this had been determined for the first time in 1863 for Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Bekanntmachung betreffend die mecklenburgischen Landesfarben) and shortly thereafter for Mecklenburg-Strelitz as well. Sources: Hecker and Hoog 1978 and Arndt 1979.

Marcus Schmöger, 28 September 2001

Vorpommern

3:5
by Marcus Schmöger

The blue is light blue. Often you can see the flag containing the Pomeranian coat of arms, a griffin rampant Gules armed Or. The use of this flag was strictly forbidden in the German Democratic Republic. As all former German —nowadays Polish etc.— provinces, [the name] Pomerania and its symbols were banned because they were said to be revanchist.

Carsten Linke, 15 May 1996

According to the specification sheet I received from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania government, this flag (proportion 3:5) shows two horizontal stripes of blue and white. These colours had been determined as the colours of the Prussian province of Pommern (Pomerania) by Cabinets Ordre of 22 October 1882. The shade of the blue was never specified, but in practice a light blue has been used. The current specification sheet determines CMYK 100/10/0/0 (approx. RGB 0/229/255), which in my opinion looks too bright on a computer screen, so I used RGB 0/204/255 for my image. Sources: Hecker and Hoog 1978 and Arndt 1979.

Marcus Schmöger, 28 September 2001

3:5      3:5
both by Marcus Schmöger

Although the traditional blue-white colours of Pomerania may be used in the part of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania that was formerly part of Pomerania, there was probably never an [officially adopted] state flag i.e. blue-white with coat-of-arms.

Marcus Schmöger, 14 August 2000

Beside the simple bicolour/tricolour the flags decorated with the arms are certainly in unofficial use. The one of Mecklenburg shows the arms in the center, a black ox head on yellow. The one of West Pomerania shows in most cases the griffin without escutcheon. Sources for these unofficial flags are the websites of flag sellers, for instance the Buddel pages for Mecklenburg and West Pomerania.

The specification sheet I received from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania government and the accompanying letter state (my translation), "On the flags of the parts of the Land there are no heraldic figures and no arms either".

Marcus Schmöger, 18 and 28 September 2001

3:5      3:5
both by Marcus Schmöger

Although the heraldic figures and arms are not officially used on the flags of the two parts of the Land, there was some discussion at the beginning of the nineties to introduce governmental bodies for these two parts (Mecklenburg and West Pomerania), that do not exist up to date. Proposed state (service) flags are described in Buske 1993. Norbert Buske's 1992 proposal for Mecklenburg service flag shows the heraldic figure of Mecklenburg, the black ox-head, in the centre of the triband (without a shield). His proposal for West Pomerania service flag shows the heraldic figure of Pomerania, the red griffin, in the centre of the blue-white bicolour (without a shield).

Marcus Schmöger, 28 September 2001

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