Do you know why Germanyโs national colors are ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐-๐ฅ๐ผ๐-๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ (black-red-gold)? 
ย It is not clear where exactly the colors come from but we do know that they make their first appearance in the early 19th century.
Lรผtzow's Free Corps
During the Wars of Liberation (๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐๐ป๐ด๐๐ธ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฒ) 1813-1815 against Napoleon, the Lรผtzowโs Free Corps (๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ธ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ ๐๐ฬ๐๐๐ผ๐) wore black uniforms with red lapels and golden buttons. When they founded the ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐จ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ณ๐ (original student league/fraternity Jena) in 1815, they used a black and red flag with golden decoration. It is said that the black-red-gold tricolor developed from this. A saying from the time of the Wars of Liberation underlines the usage of the three colors and their meaning of fighting for freedom and unity:
Aus der Schwรคrze der Knechtschaft durch blutige Schlachten ans goldene Licht der Freiheit.
From the blackness/darkness (black) of the subjugation through bloody (red) battles to the golden (gold) light of freedom.
Hambach Festival 1832
At the Hambach Festival (๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐๐) in May of 1832, students wore black-red-gold cockades and flags with the three colors could be seen. The 30,000 participants demanded German unity, freedom and democracy.
March Revolution 1848/49
The call for unity and freedom was even louder during the ๐ ๐ฎฬ๐ฟ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป 1848/49 (March Revolution). Here the flag and its colors became symbols of national unity and civil liberties. Under these pressures, the parliament in Frankfurt on March 9th, 1848 decided that black-red-gold were going to be the national colors of the German Confederation (๐๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ป๐ฑ). The black-red-gold flag was first raised on March 23rd, 1848.
Song: In Kรผmmernis und Dunkelheit
Inspired by the revolutionary events and the call for a united Germany, Ferdinand Freiligrath wrote a poem dedicated to these events. It calls for Germans to unite the German states under the black-red-and-gold flag.
He didn’t agree with the Frankfurt Parliament using the colors as a symbol for the German Confederation but rather wanted the colors to stand for a united Germany. The revolutionaries should take up arms and get rid of the princes on order to accomplish this goal.
The text, written in March 1848, was set to music by various composers. Robert Schumann wrote the music to the poem in April of the same year, his version is the one we know today.
The poem has 12 stanzas (read them here in German and English). Every stanza ends with
Pulver ist schwarz,
Blut ist rot,
Golden flackert die Flamme!
Powder is black,
Blood is red,
And golden flickers the flame!
The song is also referred to as “Schwarz-Rot-Gold”. The following is a short version.
Weimar Republic and the two Germanys
The flag was also the official flag of the Weimar Republic 1919-1933, and again for West Germany starting in 1949. The GDR (DDR) used the same colors and flag but from 1953 until 1990 it also had a hammer and compass encircled by rye on its official flag.
Flag Days
There are eight days on which the German flag has to be flown from public buildings. German Unity Day on October 3rd, and Day of Labor on May 1st are the only public holidays.
- January 27th: Commemoration Day for Victims of National Socialism
- May 1st: Day of Labor (๐ง๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐)
- May 9th: Europe Day (๐๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ด)
- May 23rd: Constitution Day (๐๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ด)
- June 17th: Anniversary of the 17th of June 1953 (Before the reunification, June 17th was ๐ง๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ and a public holiday. It commemorates the uprising in East Germany and East Berlin.)
- July 20th: Anniversary of the 20th of July 1944 (attempted assassination of Hitler)
- October 3rd: Day of German Unity since 1990 (๐ง๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐)
- 2nd Sunday before Advent: People’s Day of Mourning (๐ฉ๐ผ๐น๐ธ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ด)
