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VEB Deutsche Seereederei 1952-1974 (East Germany)

DSR

Last modified: 2006-10-07 by jarig bakker
Keywords: deutsche seereederei |
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[VEB Deutsche Seereederei 1952-1974 (East Germany)] 2:3  image by Volker Moerbitz Keith and Victor Lomantsov

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VEB Deutsche Seereederei

Founded in 1952, this was the big state-owned merchant shipping company, operating world wide and having 200 ships at its peak in the late 1970s. In the 1960s, tankers and bulk carriers were taken off the stock of Deutsche Seereederei and formed VEB Deutfracht, an own, thought short lived, company. In 1974, both companies merged back again, from then on until 1989 using the name VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei.
Flag: horizontal blue-red-blue stripes 1:3:1, with the white letters DSR in the red part and a vertical blue stripe on the fly side. The width of the vertical stripe is apparently the same as the horizontal blue stripes. Flag ratio 2:3.
Volker Moerbitz Keith, 7 Feb 2001

Stewart in 1963 [ste63] shows a horizontal triband of equal blue-red-blue with the white letters "DSR" on the red, the same design being shown by the 1978 and 1982 editions.
Neale Rosanoski, 3 May 2004

Flag variant in a nautical encyclopedia

[VEB Deutsche Seereederei 1952-1974, flag variant in a navigation encyclopedia (East Germany)] image by Jens Pattke, 3 Feb 2002

Source: Ullrich Scharnow, transpress Lexikon Seefahrt, transpress VEB Verlag für Verkehrswesen, Berlin (East), 1988, 5th edition.
Jens Pattke, 3 Feb 2002

Jack used by VEB Deutsche Seereederei, VEB Deutfracht and VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei 1952-1989

[Jack used by VEB Deutsche Seereederei, VEB Deutfracht and VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei 1952-1989 (East Germany)] 2:3  image by Volker Moerbitz Keith and Stefan Schwoon

Both merchant companies [VEB Deutsche Seereederei, VEB Deutfracht and VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei] used the same jack, a triangular flag with a griffin, similar to the one on the 1870-1918 Rostock pennant, referring to Rostock as the major East German port and home of the merchant fleet.
Volker Moerbitz Keith, 7 Feb 2001

I did some research on the DSR jack (the question was the direction of the griffin). After questioning 12 former members of DSR, it appears that the griffin was a close (though black) resemblance of the one on the Rostock city flag during German Democratic Republic times. I used the griffin on the Rostock flag by Stefan Schwoon to redraw the DSR jack.
Volker Moerbitz Keith, 15 Feb 2001

The flag of the DSR as shown above is quite far from the correct design. I suggest these links for further information: Deutfracht-Seereederei website - DSR-Seeleute website - SG Ostsee website
Roland Bentin, 26 June 2002