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Flag of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) from 1920-1945 and used alongside the imperial black-white-red tricolour. After the tricolour was scrapped as a national flag in 1935, the NSDAP flag became the sole national flag from 1935 to 1945. Ratio 3:5

Used jointly with the swastika flag 1933-35. Ratio 3:5.

The flag of Nazi Germany came into use initially as the banner of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) after its foundation. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, the flag was adopted as the one of the nation's dual national flags, the other being the black-white-red horizontal tricolour of the German Empire. One year after the death of President Hindenburg in 1934, this arrangement ended and the swastika flag became the national flag of Germany in 1935, which it remained until the end of World War II and the fall of the Third Reich.

After rejecting many suggestions and colours, Hitler describes in Mein Kampf the process of choosing a new flag, "I myself, meanwhile, after innumerable attempts, had laid down a final form; a flag with a red background, a white disk, and a black swastika in the middle. After long trials I also found a definite proportion between the size of the flag and the size of the white disk, as well as the shape and thickness of the swastika."

Nazi ensigns had a through and through image, so the "left-facing" and "right-facing" version were each present on one side. However, the Nazi flag on land was right-facing on both sides, as in the image ([1], at the bottom).

Albert Speer, in his book Inside the Third Reich, stated that: "in only two other designs did he (Adolf Hitler) execute the same care as he did his Obersalzberg house: that of the Reich War Flag and his own standard of Chief of State", showing that Hitler was an avid vexillographer (flag designer).

An off-centred disk version of the swastika flag was used as the civil ensign on German-registered civilian ships and was used as the Jack on Kriegsmarine warships. There is debate as to whether the off-centred disk flag was the official national flag from 1935 to 1945, such as at the popular vexillogy site, Flags of the World [2]. References from Third Reich books that display the country's flags always show the centred-disk version as Germany's national flag. One book published by the Third Reich in 1937, Du Sofort im Bilde ("You Are Informed Immediately", a guide book to the organization of the Third Reich) [3] displays a centred-disk German flag as Germany's national flag. A book published one year earlier in 1936 in the Third Reich, Deutscher Beamten-Kalender 1936 (German Civil Servants Yearbook 1936) also displays the centred-disk flag as the national flag, beside it the off-centred disk flag is described for use on a "Kriegsschiff" (warship). [4] Also the centred-disk flag was commonly used by civilians and the German armed forces aside from the navy.

From 1933 to at least 1938 in Nazi Germany, before any official swastika flag went into use, it had to be put into a ceremony where it touched the "Blutfahne" or Blood flag, the swastika flag used by Nazi paramilitaries during the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. This lengthy ceremony took place at every Nuremberg Rally. It is unknown whether this tradition was continued after the last Nuremberg rally in 1938.

Currently, the possession of swastika flags in Germany, France and Austria is illegal and they are banned by the governments there.

• Flag of Germany

• Provision in the german penal code making the display, ownership, manufacturing, trade or storage of the flag illegal (in German)