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The flags of the German Colonies

The German colonies – except Kiaochow – had been subordinated under the Imperial Colonial Office. Accordingly, public authorities used its seals, flags, and the Imperial coat of arms. From 1913 it was considered to create own emblems for the colonies. First drafts were made in 1914, but the project was not realized because of the outbreak of the First World War and because of the loss of the colonies. The imaginary appearance of the coats of arms and flags could only be reconstructed on the basis of fragments in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century. Most of the reconstructions refer to an article in the newspaper "Afrika-Nachrichten" from 1933 and the subsequent reconstructions of the Dutch vexillologist Mark Sensen from February 1998, which are also taken into account on these pages. The coats of arms themselves should additionally show the imperial crown above the escutcheon, but not on the flags, following the reconstruction of Mark Sensen. The escutcheons always showed the same structure: A horizontally twofold splited shield, the head of the shield showed the imperial eagle on white ground with the escutcheon of the House of Hohenzollern on the chest. In the main part appeared a stylized representation of plants, animals or landscapes, which were colored differently depending on the country.

Flagge Fahne flag deutsche Kolonie German colony Togo