The flag of Lower Saxony consists of the flag of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

Schwarz-Rot-Gold The national flag of Germany is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: black, red, and gold (german: Schwarz-Rot-Gold). The flag was first sighted in 1848 in the German Confederatio ...

, with the coat of arms of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, shifted slightly toward the hoist. This flag is the civil and state flag. A double tailed version in 3:5 ratio is used as the state ensign.

History

The flag of Lower Saxony was introduced on 1 May 1951, and made official on 13 October 1952. In the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

a neutral flag was needed for the state of Lower Saxony which consisted of the formerly separate entities of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Brunswick, Oldenburg, and

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

. File:Flagge Preußen - Provinz Hannover.svg, Hanover File:Flagge_Herzogtum_Braunschweig.svg, Flag of Brunswick File:Civil flag of Oldenburg.svg, Oldenburg File:Flagge Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe.svg, Schaumburg-Lippe Until the official launch of the current flag of Lower Saxony, the former national flags of their respective regions were used at official functions. Developed in parallel, there was a design using the

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

Hanoverian flag of horizontal yellow and white stripes with the coat of arms in the middle. However, the non-Hanoverian parts of the state rejected this design. Today, the former national flags of Hanover, Brunswick, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe are seen only at historical or folk events, such as festivals. File:Flag of Hanover 1837-1866.svg,

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Ha ...

(1837–1866) File:Flagge Preußen - Provinz Hannover.svg,

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position ...

(1868–1946) File:Flag of the State of Hanover (1946).svg, State of Hanover (1946)

References

{{GermanFlags

Culture of Lower Saxony

History

See also

References