Vet Art German Flag from Airborne Soldier

Product Description: This Vet Art German Flag is a very impressive souvenir with tons of visual appeal. Many US veterans made things like this to show off their treasured war souvenirs, but over the decades, most were disassembled into their component parts. Untouched time capsules like this have become very hard to find and we are pleased to offer this as we found it. The flag itself measures 17 by 29 inches, making this a very displayable and thus desirable size. The flag is double-sided, with printed swastika roundels stitched to both sides. The materials and construction are textbook throughout. The flag shows some minor holes, tears and staining, and is fragile in some parts. It is possible that this may have been a true battlefield pick-up, as it looks to have been used. This vet art German flag was taken as a souvenir by a US Army Airborne veteran, who decorated it with German and American insignia. This insignia remains stitched to the flag exactly as the veteran himself put it together. The American insignia includes an Army “Ruptured Duck” discharge patch, a 13th Armored Division unit insignia, an Airborne Command unit insignia, and a “Paraglide” overseas cap patch as worn by Airborne Infantry troopers. The flag is further decorated with a nice assortment of captured German cloth insignia including a nice early wool NSDAP armband, a later one-piece NSDAP armband, a Bevo woven large Hitler Youth diamond, and some embroidered Luftwaffe patches: an enlisted breast eagle, an M43 cap trapezoid, a desirable cloth Pilots Badge, and a sleeve patch for a motor vehicle driver. All of these items are unquerstionably 1945 (or earlier) manufacture, and this flag remains completely untouched. It has some holes on the edges, probably from being proudly hung as a trophy by the veteran who assembled it. The early multi-piece NSDAP armband attached to this flag has some inked signatures, and while there is unfortunately no rank or unit information, there may still be some research potential here. In any case, this vet art German flag is a fantastic example of a very scarce artifact.

Historical Description: The red flag with white central disk and black swastika was introduced by Hitler in the 1920s as the flag of the National Socialist political party. In 1933, shortly after the Nazis took power, this party flag was recognized alongside the black-white-red Imperial tricolor as one of Germany’s national flags. In 1935, the use of the tricolor flag was discontinued, and between September 1935 and May 8, 1945, the Nazi party flag was the sole national flag of Germany. From its creation in the 1920s through the end of the war, this swastika flag was made and used in endless variations, from the massive banners hung at Party Day rallies to small pennants, bunting flags, and hand-held paper flags distributed along parade routes. These flags, banners and pennants flew from ships, were hung from official and private buildings, and were displayed outside business and private homes. At the end of WWII, the Allied military governments abolished the use of all Nazi symbols, including the national flag. Most Third Reich era German national flags were simply destroyed.

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