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East Germany flag buying guide

Updated: 20 October 2026

You are buying a first East Germany flag, and the listing uses the same black, red and gold as today’s German flag. An East Germany flag buying guide has to settle the emblem, then a size you can hang, then how long a light print can stay outside. In this amazon.co.uk set, prices run from about £5.81 for a mesh boat flag to about £22.95 for two large flags, with single 5 ft by 3 ft prints around £8.85 to £8.99. The [DDR flag comparison](/hub/flags/ddr-flag) holds each row. Products Compared used those listings and public UK sources, updated 19 October 2026. A qualifying purchase through an amazon.co.uk link can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are buying a first East Germany flag, and the listing uses the same black, red and gold as today’s German flag.

Our top picks

AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 90 cm by 60 cm

Best overall

AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 90 cm by 60 cm
8.8/10about £8.95
View offer
The Flag Company The Flag Company East Germany flag 5 ft by 3 ft

Rank 2

The Flag Company The Flag Company East Germany flag 5 ft by 3 ft
9.4/10about £8.85
View offer
AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 45 cm by 30 cm

Best value

AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 45 cm by 30 cm
8.6/10about £6.84
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Check the emblem before the cloth
  2. 2.Match size and fixing to the pole you have
  3. 3.Read the outdoor line as occasional, not all year
  4. 4.What the UK shelf costs
  5. 5.Consent and returns in one pass

Check the emblem before the cloth

The flag you want, for East Germany from 1959 to 1990, is black, red and gold with a hammer and compass inside a wreath of grain. The Bundestag’s English page dates that emblem from 1959, and the plain tricolour as the flag of reunified Germany from 3 October 1990. A parcel with an empty centre is today’s German national flag. These amazon listings are modern polyester copies, not surviving 1959 flags. On The Flag Company 5 ft by 3 ft listing one reviewer says the emblem is not exact, so open the photo large. The year split is on the East Germany flag vs Germany flag page.

Match size and fixing to the pole you have

Five feet by three feet is about 150 cm by 90 cm, the 3:5 proportion. A 90 cm by 60 cm flag is slightly deeper. A 45 cm by 30 cm flag is a small banner. A desk flag with a plastic base will not fly on a house pole. Two metal eyelets suit a halyard or wall hooks, and those listings do not include a pole. Two cords suit a stick. Plastic rings suit the mesh boat flag. The East Germany flag size page sets out bunting and the car pennant as well.
AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 90 cm by 60 cm

Testsieger

AZ FLAG AZ FLAG East Germany flag 90 cm by 60 cm
8.8/10about £8.95
View offer

Read the outdoor line as occasional, not all year

AZ FLAG describes 100D polyester for indoor and occasional outdoor use, with a wash at 30 degrees C. The two-pack title says 100D while its fabric field says 38D, so you cannot treat every AZ FLAG line as one cloth weight. Flagmakers puts printed outdoor flags at about 115 gsm knitted polyester and sewn flags at about 150 gsm woven polyester. That is about flag cloth in general, not a test of these ASINs. The Flag Consultancy’s figure for lowering a normal flag is around Beaufort force 6, about 30 to 31 mph. Hoisting is on the how to hang a flag with eyelets page.

What the UK shelf costs

Entry prices in this set run from about £5.81 for the mesh boat flag to about £8.85–£8.99 for a single 5 ft sheet. The two-pack is about £22.95, dearer per flag than one 5 ft sheet. On the same day, The Flag Shop listed a 5 ft by 3 ft printed polyester at £7.99 including VAT, Flag Superstore listed £4.99, and Flying Colours started at £21.60 including VAT. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires goods to match the description. If the parcel is a plain German flag, or the size is not the size in the title, that is the route.

Common questions

Is 100D polyester enough for a UK garden pole?
100D polyester, as AZ FLAG states it, is for indoor and occasional outdoor use, including light wind. Knitted polyester of about 115 gsm is what UK flag makers describe for printed flags flown outside. You can hang a 100D flag for an afternoon. Leaving it up through winds around Beaufort force 6 is beyond that line. Flagmakers’ 180-day figure is about flag cloth in general, sunrise to sunset, and it is not a measured life for these ASINs.
Do two eyelets mean the flag includes a pole?
No. Eyelets and grommets are the holes the rope or the hooks pass through. In this set the included components stop at the flag. The Flagtex 5 ft listing names a grommet and does not name a pole. You bring the pole, the halyard and the cleat, or you hang the flag on hooks you already have.
What size matches 3:5?
Five feet by three feet, about 150 cm by 90 cm, is the size here that matches 3:5. A 90 cm by 60 cm flag is slightly deeper, so it suits a wall and matches a drawing less well. Desk flags and the 45 cm banners are different jobs again.
How do you avoid the plain German flag?
Read the centre. The East Germany flag from 1959 to 1990 has a hammer, a compass and a grain wreath. The current flag of Germany is the same three colours with an empty centre. A title that says only Germany or black red gold, without the emblem, is the wrong parcel.
Can you leave it up all winter?
The listings here do not say that. AZ FLAG’s outdoor line is occasional, and Flag Superstore’s comparable 5 ft flag is indoor or light outdoor. The 180-day remark is about heavier flag cloth, not a result for these prints. Bring a 100D flag in when the wind rises.

Related pages

Best East Germany flag

DDR flag

How to hang a flag with eyelets and black at the top

East Germany flag size: a desk, wall or a 5 ft pole

East Germany flag vs Germany flag: check the emblem

Sources

Public sources for this comparison, checked on 19 October 2026.

  1. GOV.UK flying flags guide (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. Class H, advertisements regulations (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. Public Order Act 1986, section 4A (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. Bundestag, flag of Germany (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. Deutschland.de, the German flag (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. Royal Museums Greenwich, GDR flag (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. Flagmakers, flag fabric (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. The Flag Shop, East Germany flag (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  9. Flying Colours, East Germany state flag (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  10. Flag Consultancy, flag flying procedures (retrieved 19 October 2026)