Nuremberg (Germany)

Stadt Nürnberg, Mittelfranken District, Bavaria

Last modified: 2008-11-15 by jarig bakker
Keywords: nuremberg | nürnberg |
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3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon

• Nuremberg flag
• Flag in 1938
• Banner, reported 1933
• Banner of 1998

• Mittelfranken District (Bezirk Mittelfranken)
• County and Municipal Flags (Bavaria / Bayern)
• Bavaria (Bayern)
• Germany

Nuremberg flag

Red-white bicolor. Sources: Staack 1997 and Stadler 1964-1971.
Stefan Schwoon, 5 Mar 2001

Colours from the sinister escutcheon of the arms. From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:
Nürnberg became a city in 1219 and became one of the most important cities in present Bavaria. The city uses two different arms; the greater arms with the eagle with a king's head and the lesser arms with the eagle and red bends. Both were adopted in 1936. The lesser arms are known as the real arms since 1240, where they are first mentioned. The arms showed a shield divided in five bends silver [white] and red. The arms are probably derived from the arms of the first viscounts of Nürnberg. During the centuries the number of bends changed regularly and were finally fixed in 1936.
Literature: Stadler 1964-1971.
Santiago Dotor, 11 Jan 2002

Flag in 1938

Banner, reported 1939
The ratio of banner is 10:3. The banner is vertically divided into red and white and has a bannerhead  containing one of the both coat of arms of the city. The height of the bannerhead is 3/10 of total height.
Source:[neu39a]; p.94
Surprisingly I found only the red over white bicolour in our pages. The CoA differs a little bit in every of the three images from today.
In the 1939 version my image is based on that one of Neubecker within source. Neubecker mentions, that that banner, with bannerhead, would be a very good example of modern city flags (ar his time).
The 1998 version CoA seems to be more or less the same like that one, depicted on R.Hartemink's website. So that eagle is armed golden but tongued red.
From the 1933 version I have of course only a B/W image. But being near to 1939, I gave the eagle red tongue and claws. The bendy lines in this version are more narrow than in both others.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Oct 2008

There is a photograph in this website of Hitler reviewing a parade in downtown Nuremberg in 1938. It shows a close up of a vertical flag, red and white stripes with in the upper part a plain blue square with a golden eagle. Is it a Nuremberg flag?
Santiago Tazón, 18 Nov 2001

Obviously it is a Nuremberg city flag, yes. The city colours are red-white, and therefore the flag (as quite usual a hanging flag) is striped in these colours. Furthermore the arms is shown, here in a field at the top of the flag. The arms shows a golden eagle [with crowned, human head] on blue (see the International Civic Arms website). The arms in this flag is more stylized than usual, though.
Marcus Schmöger, 18 Nov 2001

I had seen a similar picture before in black and white, but it was captioned something like "Nuremberg congress ca. 1935" so I was hesitant to report it as 'evidence' that at least city flags had not been really abolished in 1935, nor completely fallen into disuse after that date. The above picture is linked from this page according to which the original source is the cover of the first October 1938 issue of NS Frauen-Warte.
Santiago Dotor, 19 Nov 2001

Here is a picture showing a poster for the 'Reichsparteitag Nürnberg', identified in the url as dating from 1939 (although the map of Germany, too, is a pointer): We see the city flag with the 'humanised eagle' on the castle and although this is not a photo, at least it indicates that the authorities were willing to show this flag. (On the other hand it could be an idealized rendering, or one showing a situation a few years earlier).
Anyway, there's the poster. Ah yes, there's an ugly finial as well.
Jan Mertens, 5 Jun 2004

City flags were never abolished, only Länder and Prussian provincial flags were abolished. This led to the fact, for instance, that the flag of Lübeck fell out of use as a flag of a Land, but continued as city flag (newly regulated 22 Dec 1935). I guess (but do not know exactly) that it was similar in Hamburg and Bremen.
Marcus Schmöger, 8 Jun 2004

Banner, reported 1933

Banner, reported 1933.
The ratio of banner is nearly 4:1 without the appendix below. The banner is vertically divided into red and white with one of the both coats of arms of the city clearly shifted to the top. The width of coat of arms takes nearly total width of banner. The appendix consists of six pairs of alternating red and white stripes of  cloth.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung, edition of 9 February 2007; p.43; showing a photo from 1933.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Oct 2008

Banner of 1998

Banner, reported 1998.
The ratio of banner is estimated 5:2 . The banner is vertically divided into red and white with one of the both coats of arms of the city in it’s centre.
Source:”HB-Bildatlas no.182: Tauber und Neckar”; Hamburg  1998; ISBN 3-6160-6116-4
There exists also a photo of Stefan Schwoon, published in http://www.kommunalflaggen.de.
Description of CoA: The shield is divided per pale. The dexter side shows a half black double headed eagle, armed and tongued red in a golden(=yellow) field. The sinister side is a silver (=white) field containing three red bendy lines.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 9 Oct 2008