Schwarz-Weiß-Rot Flag

The Schwarz-Weiß-Rot (black-white-red) flag, or Reichsflagge, was the flag of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, and used by right-wing groups during the post-WWI Weimar era. The colours of the Reichsflagge were subsequently co-opted by the Nazis; Adolf Hitler wrote that red symbolised the “social idea of the [Nazi] movement” while white represented “the national idea”.

Given the common use of similar colour schemes in non-hateful contexts (e.g., football team colours; commercial, regional or local colours, etc), the interpretation of these colours should always be carefully considered in context.

Black-white-red colours began to be used by neo-Nazi groups after World War II in the wake of postwar bans, particularly in Germany and Austria, on the use of explicit Nazi symbols. These colours continue to be used by contemporary hate groups.