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Flensburg city (Germany)

Kreisfreie Stadt Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein

3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon, 12 Feb 2001
Coat-of-arms adopted 1901, modified 1938

City of Flensburg
Banner
1580 flag

See also:

County and Municipal Flags (Schleswig-Holstein)
Schleswig-Holstein
Germany

City of Flensburg

Blue with the arms. Also shown in this webpage of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Flaggenkunde. Sources: flag from Staack 1997, coat-of-arms from Stadler 1964-1971.
From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website: Flensburg received city rights already before 1270 and the oldest known seal dates from 1282. The present arms were granted in 1938 and are based on this oldest seal. The two lions are derived from the arms of the County of Schleswig, to which the city belonged. The tower and the waves symbolise the city itself. The small shield with the arms of the counts of Holstein was added in the 15th century. The arms were officially granted in 1901 and were only slightly changed in 1938.
Literature: Stadler 1964-1971.
Stefan Schwoon, 12 Feb 2001

When having a look at Schleswig-Holstein regional flags I came across that one of my hometown Flensburg. The flag depicted there is indeed the modified version of the flag of 1938. It was still in use in 1984 when the city celebrated its 700th anniversary. But afterwards in the 1990ies, the flag design changed: the CoA is still the same but the flag changed from plain blue to blue over yellow just like the colours of teh duchy of Schleswig. This was done due to a lot of pressure by the Danish minority in Flensburg: until 1867 when Flensburg came to Prussia/Germany, the flag was blue over yellow with the CoA just like its is today.
Unfortunately, there is very little interest in flags & heraldry in Schleswig-Holstein so nobody cared about this change. Personnaly I think that a plain blue flag with the CoA does follow the rules of simplicity much more than a blue-yellow flag. The "undeniable" argument by the Danish minority was that the flag was modified in 1938 - so it's a "Nazi-flag". Could anybody tell me what a plain blue flag has to do with "Nazis", and why a blue-yellow hasn't?
Dr. Jan Schlürmann, 18 Mar 2005

Banner

3:2 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 Nov 2008

Hanging flag: The ratio of flag is 3:2. It is a blue flag with the coat of arms of the city shifted to the top.
Source: I spotted this flag in Summer 1980 near Flensburg’s Nordermarkt.
The image of the coat of arms is based on: Martin Reißmann: „Die Wappen der Kreise, Ämter, Städte und Gemeinden in Schleswig-Holstein”; ISBN 3-88042-815-8; Husum 1997; p.137.
The yellow colour however is different, here RGB: (252/205/20).
Note: According to §1(3) of Hauptsatzung, last modified on 23 May 2008, the flag of Flensburg is still blue with the coat of arms in its centre.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 10 Nov 2008

It is very rare to have hanging flags with such a "short" ratio. Usually they are from 2:1 up to 4:1 or even longer, 5:2 being a good guess for most of them. However, this is true only for the parts of Germany with a long tradition of hanging flags (and other vertical flag versions).
Flensburg, as a city high up in the North of Germany, certainly is much more influenced by the maritime flag tradition of horizontal flags (what most vexillologists consider as "normal" flags). As these frequently have a 2:3 or 3:5 ratio, it is not too surprising to see flags with a similar ratio just turned 90°.
Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 30 Nov 2008

1580 flag

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 8 Jan 2007