City of Dortmund (Germany)

Stadt Dortmund, Northrhine-Westphalia

Last modified: 2012-07-30 by klaus-michael schneider
Keywords: dortmund | bicolour | hanseatic league | eagle(black) | imperial eagle |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• Flag without Coat of Arms
• Flag with Coat of Arms
• Coat of Arms

• County and Municipal Flags (Northrhine-Westphalia / Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)
• Northrhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany)
• Germany

Flag without arms

Description of flag:
The flags ratio is 3:5. It is a red over white horizontal bicolour.
Meaning:
According to Veddeler 2003, p.117 the origin of the colours is not clear, because they don't appear in the coat of arms. There is however some speculation, that the city, which had been the most important city of Hansa league in the region, uses the colours of the league.
Sources: Veddeler 2003, p.371 and Stadler 1972, p.34
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 7 Jul 2007 / 9 Jun 2010

Flag with Coat of Arms

3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon, 23 Feb 2001

Description of flag:
Red and white are the the colours of the Hansa which Dortmund was a member of - Freie Reichs- und Hansestadt Dortmund, as it was used to be called. The arms come from its time as a free town within the Empire (freie Reichsstadt), which explains the black eagle on gold, and is also heraldically the same as the present arms of Germany (Bundeswappen), but is usually displayed in another design. The flag is displayed e.g. in the town hall of Dortmund. I have also seen it as a jack on a yacht in Stockholm harbour. I just already know this about Dortmund, since I used to spend time there some years ago, when I had a girlfriend there.
Elias Granqvist, 21 Oct 2000/13 Jul 2007

Coat of Arms

Red-white with the arms. Red and white are the colours of the Hansa, the arms shows the imperial eagle, owing to Dortmund's former status as an imperial city. Sources: flag from the city website, arms from Stadler 1972.
Stefan Schwoon, 23 Feb 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website:
Dortmund is an old city and received city rights in the early 13th century. The city was a free Imperial City and was thus entitled to use the Imperial Eagle in its arms and seals. (...) Contrary to the Imperial arms, the field was generally shown as silver. In 1871 the arms were granted with two lions as supporters and a mural crown. The supporters were again removed in 1888, the crown in 1908. In 1946 the silver field was finally changed to gold, the imperial (but not historical) colour.
Literature: Stadler 1972
Santiago Dotor, 19 Dec 2001