Last modified: 2020-07-26 by pete loeser
Keywords: swastika | hakenkreuz |
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Images by Mark Sensen and António Martins
According to the construction sheet sent a while ago to the FOTW list, the width of the flag is 200 and the distance between the hoist and the disc's edge is 45. The disc itself is 90 in diameter, while the hoist height is 120. The swastika itself is inscribed in a square measuring 60 in each side, and its other relevant measures are 12, 36 and 24 (thickness, outer part of each arm and inner part of each arm).
António Martins, 29 May 1999
As to the German Swastika flag, precise data is given in the German Flaggenbuch 1939 and in the VO of 30 December 1933. When the flag is used at sea, the dimensions of the flag is 200 x 120. The white disk is 15 from the top and bottom and 45 from the hoist (diameter is thus 90 and the disk is 65 from the fly). The swastika
is 60 on each side, divided 36, 12 and 12). On land, the dimensions are the same except that the disk with the swastika is centered. Flaggenbuch 1939 shows only the offcenter version, but I haven't been able to find the amendment to the usage of the flag on land. In particular the flag law of 15 September 1935 did not do that. It is in any event that the variation (centered and offcenter) existed at least until 1935 and that both were regarded as the Swastika flag at that time. To the best of my memory, land based flags were (often? always?) centered, but I am not certain that I consciously looked in 1944-1945.
Norman Martin, 9 Jun 1999
To help as far as possible, let me give all the information I have on this question:
It is clear that only the centered version was used on land 1933-35.
It is also clear that [the] centered version was used (at least de facto) on land 1935-45. What is not clear on the information available to me was whether this was authorized after 1935 and also whether the use of the off-centered version on land was authorized and to what degree each was
used on land after 1935. The only version used or authorized at sea at any time 1933-45 was the off-centered version.
Norman Martin, 14 Sep 1999
Whilst on land the centred Hakenkreuzflagge was used, at sea it was the off-centred version, but there is another difference: the flag on land had the cross on both sides rotating anticlockwise, while the ensign had it printed through (for practical reasons), thus rotating to the pole/mast.
Ralf Stelter, 15 Jan 2001
This page contains several mistakes, explained in Flaggenkurier 13 (Dreyhaupt 2001 [drh01]?).
Andreas Herzfeld, 24 Feb 2002
The Nazis had two flags, one with a centered white circle, used mostly in land, and the other one with an offset circle, used in the fleets. Why was it offset?
Bruno Bernardo, 21 Nov 2006
Probably for visibility; flags at sea flap around more and displacing the emblem towards the hoist makes it more visible. See how the French flag is modified for use at sea, for example.
Albert S. Kirsch, 21 Nov 2006
The flag with an off-centred roundel was certainly the regulated nationalflag, merchant flag and naval jack, and the Third Reich are known to have used the swastika flag both centred and off-set, but are you sure that the centred version was actually an official variant (at least in 1939)
since the otherwise precise Flaggenbuch doesn't show it?
Christopher Southworth, 21 Nov 2006