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Lippe County (Germany)

Kreis Lippe, Northrhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2014-02-19 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: lippe county | rose (red) | detmold county |
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[Lippe County (Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany)] 3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon
approved 17 Jul 1973 See also:

Description

Lippe was a state on its own until 1946 when it was integrated into the newly created Northrhine-Westphalia. The present-day county coincides with the state. The arms of Lippe, the rose, are part of the state arms of Northrhine-Westphalia. The flag and banner of Lippe are specified in the statutes, available at the county website: According to these statutes of 25 Oct 1999, the flags bear the shield with the coat of arms. A different variant with only the rose is also in use.
Stefan Schwoon, 5 Feb 2001

Flag adopted 17 Jul 1973, according to Dirk Schönberger's Administrative Divisions of the World website.
From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website: The arms were granted on July 17, 1973. The arms are based on the old arms of the Princes and State of Lippe. The number of 16 pollen grains in the rose symbolises the 16 municipalities in the county.
Source: Linder and Olzog 1996
Santiago Dotor, 25 Oct 2001

I just had a good look at the Lippe County flag at your site - that flag is incorrect! The Rose of Lippe is not in a white shield, but against a background yellow/red. Furthermore the rose of the county-banner is more centrist with yellow petals.
Gerd Ballay, 21 Jun 2005

The problem with Lippe is, that there are several, somewhat overlapping territories, partly historical, so different things get mixed up, namely the historical Land (state) Lippe, the current Landesverband (regional association) Lippe and the current Kreis (county) Lippe.
First of all, he mentions an "aktuelle Flagge des Landes Lippe" (current flag of the state Lippe). There is no current state, as Lippe ceased to exist as separate state of Germany shortly after WW2 (1947, IIRC). Historically, Lippe used different variants of the colours yellow and red, for official purposes (especially for the head-of-state) frequently with the arms. Only rarely (especially 1933-1937) flags with the rose alone, i.e. without shield, were used. The Lippe flag history is comprehensively described in Kittel 1950. The arms is described in Veddeler 1978.
The Landesverband Lippe, as far as is known, uses the plain bicolour flag.
The flag of the county Lippe is described and shown here. At least according to the official grant in 1973, the county uses flags (horizontal and vertical) with the coat-of-arms, also described and shown in Veddeler 2003.
However, unofficial variants are already mentioned on the FOTW page. I guess, these are flags used by citizens to show their attachment to the former state of Lippe, rather than to the current county.
Marcus E.V. Schmöger, 10 Jul 2005

Hanging Flag / Banner

[Lippe County hanging flag (Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany)] image by Stefan Schwoon

Flag Variants

[Lippe County, variant with no shield, centred rose (Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany)] 3:5 [Lippe County, variant with no shield, offset rose (Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany)] 3:5 images both by Stefan Schwoon, 5 Feb 2001

A different variant with only the rose is also in use. A sketch of it can be seen on the county website.
Stefan Schwoon, 5 Feb 2001

Today I saw on television a World Cup mass-start race which took place in Oberhof (Germany). A supporter standing near the arrival waved a horizontally divided yellow-red flag with a red rose in the middle, but skewed to the hoist, like on the official flag (but with no shield).
Ivan Sache, 12 Jan 2002

Former Detmold County (1932-1973)

[Detmold County until 1973 (Germany)] 3:5 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 15 Jan 2014

Description of flag:
It was a yellow over red horizontal bicolour.
Meaning:
The colours are those of the Principality of Lippe. Detmold County and next door neighbour Lemgo County were both established in 1932 as parts of the State of Lippe, which was dissolved in 1947. Then both counties became part of Northrhine-Westphalia. Lemgo County probably had the same flag, but nothing is mentioned within source. The counties of Detmold and Lippe merged on 1 January 1973 and formed Lippe County.
Source: [sta64]; p.26
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 15 Jan 2014

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