Last modified: 2009-08-08 by jarig bakker
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![[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold]](../images/d/de}rbsrg.gif)
image by Marc Pasquin, 21 Sep 2006
It was meant as a self-protection group for political meetings but saw itself also as defender of the republic "as it stood" unlike most of their counterparts who advocated an eventual change of regime. It also seems to have contained a large number of musical bands seen not only during parades but also at public speeches. At its height in 1932, it numbered roughly 3 million members. It was eventualy disbanded in March 1933 at the same time as its political founders were declared illegal.
The name of "Realm's Banner Black-Red-Gold" was a reference to the republican
flag as opposed to the black-white-red used by the monarchists and conservatives.
A black eagle on red (unlike the contemporary black eagle on gold) seems
to have been the logo of the Reichsbanner based on various items of uniform
I could find (pins, badges, belt buckles).
That being said, it might have just been the *standard* way of displaying
it since some black and white pictures and one reproduction used nowaday
by the german social-democrats shows the eagle on gold.
The later could be an "updated" version however. The included has <de)rbsrg.gif>
is based on 2 near-identical ones found on 3 different enameled object:
a uniform belt buckle, a member's tin pin and a lady member's pin.
The flag included is from the "Orstverein Laubach" [Laubach local chapter] and is representative of those used by units of the Reichsbanner. While there are many variations, the flags all follow this pattern: black-red-gold equal horizontal triband, "Reichsbanner" (or the full name) in gold in the black band, a black eagle in the red band (with or without a red field container) and the unit's name in black written in the golden band. Most used a fraktur-like script. Some eagles were heraldic in design while other were almost cartoonish and one I found carried on his breast a shield that repeated the triband while all others were shieldless. All this probably point to local manufacture rather then a centralised one.
In addition to these, vexillum-type hanging banners could also seen in some parade pictures. These seem to defy any standard design but even then, they appear to have used some sort of Black-Red-Gold combination. One such banner for example had a pentagonal plain black field (with 2 parallel sides), red eagle-and-circle and golden writting. Another was a swallowtail with a black border, red inverted swallowtail field containing a black eagle and some gold writting & decoration.
Finaly, One photograph shows the youth wing of the Reichsbanner carrying
small burgee-type flags at the top of long poles. They all appear to be
plain black with an eagle and some writting near the hoist. I have no idea
if these represented Youth units or had another significance and were simply
carried by them during a rally.
Marc Pasquin, 21 Sep 2006
A different layout of the Reichsbanner Schwatz-Rot-Gold banner can be
seen in the photo here.
As you can see the layout of the banner of Ortsgruppe Isartal is very diffent
from the example currently included on FOTW.
Marcus Wendel, 19 Jul 2008
When making the image to be included with my report, I chose one randomly.
From what I have seen, almost all were different in some ways the only
thing being constant were:
* black, red, gold horizontal stripes
* the phrase "Reichsbanner Schwatz-Rot-Gold" on the black stripe
* a black eagle of some sort in the center
* the name of the Orstgruppe on the gold stripes
Marc Pasquin, 19 Jul 2008
![[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold logo]](../images/d/de)rbsrg.gif)
image by Marc Pasquin, 21 Sep 2006
![[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold]](../images/d/de}rbos.jpg)
image sent by Oliver Wolters, 30 Jun 2004
The flag that I'm sending to you is the pennant of the so called "Reichsbanner
Schwarz-Rot-Gold", a socialdemocratic based paramilitary fighting alliance
founded in the Weimar Republic on February 24 1924 in Magdeburg.
The flag I'm sending to you was used by the "Ortsgruppe Stockheim"
(Location Group Stockheim), but I actually don't know which Stockheim is
meant. Other local groups of the Reichsbanner supposably have used similar
flags, only with other Ortsgruppe-signs on it.
The Reichsbanner joined together with the labour union ADGB and other
organisations in the "Eiserne Front" (Iron Front) and was disorganised
in 1933 after the nazis came to power.
Pictures of the real Flag (actually, a reprint of it) could be found
at the homepage of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, where an exhibition
about the history of the Eiserne Front at the Paul-Löbe-Haus was reported
(but not anymore).
Another review about that exhibition and a better fotograph can be
found at kellinghusen-info.de,
an Internet-Newspaper.
The graphic was made by me and can freely be used on your site, any
other FOTW-Mirrors and other sites, I'd feel proud if you put it in the
FOTW database, if you'd like I'll also send you the original Photoshop
file.
Oliver Wolters, 30 Jun 2004
The description "socialdemocratic based" could be, unless familiar with
the circumstances, misleading as suggesting that this organization was
solely a socialdemocratic matter. This is the case insofar it were social
democrats who initiated the founding and the movement was dominated by
them (around 90%), but from the beginning members of the liberal DDP (Deutsche
Demokratische Partei) and the conservative Zentrum partei were
part of membership and leadership. Politically the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold
can be classed as center-left, for it were mainly right-wing social democrats
and left-wing liberals and conservatives who joined this organization.
Oliver Wolters was referring to these social democratic predominances,
as he wrote to me.
Martin Karner, 6 Jul 2004