The Flag of the 22nd International Congress
of Vexillology "FlagBerlin 2007"

Description and Symbolism

The The flag of "FlagBerlin 2007" is a square with a white field and a narrow border in the German national colours (black-red-gold). The border colours start with black at the outermost.

At the centre is the yellow Congress logo, the Roman numerals "XXII" in shape of the "Brandenburg Gate", on a blue disk.

From the yellow edge surrounding the blue disk, four diagonal stripes resembling halyards run diagonally to the four corners of the flag, forming in their mid-sections the "vexillological knot" of FIAV.

The halyards at the lower right and upper left are black, those on the lower left and upper right are red, each meets a yellow halyard emanating from the yellow rim of the blue circle.

The flag's square shape, the form of a historic standard, recalls the Congress venue, the German Historical Museum, which houses a great collection of over 2,000 flags. It comprises above all the flags of the former Prussian arsenal and many flags of German parties and organizations.

The white field of the flag represents the peaceful coexistence of the nations of the world.

The logo expresses the international character of the congress. It shows the FIAV colours, royal blue and yellow. On the blue disk the yellow Roman "XXII" stands for the 22nd ICV, on an image of the Brandenburg Gate, the well-known symbol of Berlin, the site of "FlagBerlin 2007".

Here, within the visual range of the Brandenburg Gate, vexillologists from all corners of the World are meeting, represented by the diagonals and their "vexillological knots" running from the four corners to the centre of the flag and reminding of the close ties between the two hemispheres.

The knot is the emblem of the FIAV, which was introduced by Klaes Sierksma in 1967, during the 2nd International Congress of Vexillology in Zurich (Switzerland).

German national colours form the border, representing Germany as host of the 22nd ICV.

The black-red-gold colours have been a symbol of the German national movement since the first half of the 19th century. They appeared in the modern form of a horizontal tricolour for the first time in 1832, expressing the all-German thinking and liberal views. Revolutionary events in March 1848 brought about their general acceptance. In 1866 Chancellor Otto von Bismarck introduced, in deliberate contrast to them, a black-white-red flag for the North-German Union and eventually for the German Empire, which flew until the German Revolution in November 1918. In 1918 black-red-gold became the symbols of the German Republic. But the National Assembly of the Weimar Republic made a grave political compromise: while the colours of the republic were black-red-gold, the merchant flag was black-white-red with the national colours in the upper corner near the hoist. This compromise was abolished by Hitler's government in 1933, when black-red-gold colours were banished from public life. After the fall of the Hitler regime in 1945 black-red-gold had their renaissance. In 1949 two German states came into being, both making black-red-gold their colours and the German Democratic Republic placing its arms in the centre of its flag in 1959.

Since 1990 the black-red-gold colours have formed the flag of reunited Germany.

The Congress flag was designed by Jens Pattke, member of the German Vexillological Society, and in April 2006 it was selected out of more than 125 proposals by the Organizational Committee of "FlagBerlin 2007" after a two-phase competition international participation.

The flags of the
International Congresses of Vexillology

1.ICV Muiderberg (NLD) 04.09.-05.09.1965					2.ICV Zurich (CHE) 01.09-03.09.1967
3.ICV Boston (USA) 05.09.-7.09.1969					4.ICV Turin (ITA) 24.-27.06.1971
5.ICV London (GBR) 13.09.-18.09.1973					6.ICV IJsselmeer (NLD) 16.04.-20.04.1975
7.ICV Washington (USA) 10.06.-14.06.1977					8.ICV Vienna (AUT) 26.06.-29.06.1979
9.ICV Ottawa (CAN) 24.08.-28.08.1981					10.ICV Oxford (GBR) 25..09.-30.09.1983
11.ICV Madrid (ESP) 26.05.-31.05.1985					12.ICV San Francisco (USA) 12.08.1987-16.08.1987
13.ICV Melbourne (AUS) 24.09.-29.09.1989					14.ICV Barcelona (ESP) 30.06.-05.07.1991
15.ICV Zurich (CHE) 23.08-27.08.1993					16.ICV Warsaw (POL) 01.07.-05.07.1995
17.ICV Cape Town (ZAF) 10.08.-16.08.1997					18.ICV Victoria (CAN) 28.07.-02.08.1999
19.ICV York (GBR) 23.07.-27.07.2001					20.ICV Stockholm (SWE) 25.08.-30.082003
21.ICV Buenos Aires (ARG) 31.07.-06.08.2005					22.ICV Berlin (DEU) 06.08-10.08.2007
Images by Jens Pattke (DGF, FotW)

Contacts

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF THE 22.ICV "FLAG-BERLIN 2007"
c/o GERD VEHRES
ANDREASSTRASSE 33
10243 BERLIN , GERMANY
EMAIL: g_vehres@yahoo.de
WEB HOMEPAGE: http://www.flagberlin2007.de

For further information about the German Historical Museum:

DEUTSCHES HISTORISCHES MUSEUM
( GERMAN HISTORICAL MUSEUM )
UNTER DEN LINDEN 2
10117 BERLIN , GERMANY
WEB HOMEPAGE: http://www.dhm.de