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Rostock (Germany)

Hansestadt Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania

3:5 image by Stefan Schwoon, 13 Feb 2001

City of Rostock
Rostock banner

See also:

County and Municipal Flags (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania / Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Rostock until 1867
Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
Germany

City of Rostock

The current flag of Rostock is blue-white-red in proportions 2:1:1 with a golden griffin on the blue stripe. Sources: flag from Staack 1997 and Günther 1999a, griffin from the arms from Bensing et al, Lexikon Städte und Wappen der DDR, Leipzig, 1984.
Stefan Schwoon, 13 Feb 2001

From Ralf Hartemink's International Civic Arms website: The arms combine the griffin of the Princes of Rostock with the arms of the Hanseatic League of cities. The griffin first appears on the second known seal of the city, which is known since 1367. (...) The princes of Rostock were a branch of the Dukes of Mecklenburg. The lower part of the arms first appears in the late 14th or early 15th century on the flags of the city.
Literature: Das Wappen der Hansestadt Rostock, leaflet published by the city of Rostock, 1993; Bensing et al, Lexikon Städte und Wappen der DDR, Leipzig, 1984.
Santiago Dotor, 27 Nov 2001

Rostock banner

5:2 image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 15 Mar 2007

It's ratio is 5:2. It's a vertical tricolour blue (double width)-white-red from left to right(visible). In the middle of the blue stripe is a rather tiny golden griffin facing the hoist-side.
The tiny griffin does not match the aims of heraldry. It should fill the whole blue stripe. But here the shape of the griffin on flag was more or less kept. I don't know, whether this version is official. I spotted this banner on 8 December 2006 in Nienhagen (Bad Doberan County) next to Rostock.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 15 Mar 2007