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Franconia (Bavaria, Germany)

Franken

Last modified: 2008-11-15 by jarig bakker
Keywords: franken |
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Introduction

The flag of Franconia has no official status since there is no autonomous region of Franconia. Franconia covers three districts (Bezirke). Nuremberg (Nürnberg) is considered as the unofficial capital of Franconia. People from Franconia do not consider themselves as Bavarian and revendicate their own identity, symbolized by the Franconian rake. The flag is often seen during local festivities.
Pascal Vagnat, 24 April 2000

The three northern Bezirke [districts] of Bavaria (Mittelfranken, Oberfranken and Unterfranken) have their own history, distinct from southern Bavaria, and thus some kind of regional identity as Franken (Franconia). Many of the people there do not like the quite centralistic Bavarian government in Munich, some of them even want their own Bundesland Franken ['Federal State of Franconia'], see for example this website.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001

"Communities are allowed exceptionally to show the white-red flag of Franconia on the day of Franconia at 1st July, on their town hall, beside the Bavarian white-blue flag", said Bavarian minister for inner affairs Günther Beckstein. "Normally it is not allowed, because the Franconian flag is not an official state flag."
Source: Newspaper Münchner Merkur.
(Beckstein is Franconian and future prime minister of Bavaria.)
J. Patrick Fischer, 6 Jun 2007

Flag with Coat-of-Arms (unofficial flag)

[Franconia, flag with coat-of-arms (Bavaria, Germany)] image by Marcus Schmöger

The flag depicted in this website as flag for Franconia you can see also quite frequently on other websites, e.g. this website or this website. This flag has been in use unofficially for some 10-15 years, even if in the South Bavarian media it is not frequently seen. It shows a typical pattern for a German flag: horizontally striped red over white with the arms in the center. The colours derive from the arms. The arms show the saw-tooth that has been one of the symbols of the Hochstift Würzburg (since 1410) and later on became a symbol commonly associated with the whole Franconia. As there was no political entity called Franconia in medieval times, but a lot of small territories, there had never been an actual historical coat-of-arms for Franconia. However the saw-tooth is the symbol for Franconia in the Bavarian coat-of-arms as well as in the coats-of-arms of the Bezirke Mittelfranken, Oberfranken and Unterfranken. These three Bezirke also show flags of red-white or white-red.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001

Banner-of-Arms (unofficial flag)

[Franconia, banner-of-arms (Bavaria, Germany)] image by Marcus Schmöger

The flag of Franconia is a banner of the arms of the region, as they appear within the arms of Bavaria. They are nicknamed the Franconian rake. The teeth of the rake are usually horizontal. The flag has no official status since there is no autonomous region of Franconia. (...) The flag is often seen during local festivities.
Pascal Vagnat, 24 April 2000

During a short stay in Bavaria, I saw the flag of Franconia in the town of Solnhofen (together with municipal and Bavarian state flags). All three flags were hoisted vertically, the Franconia regional flag being Bahrain-like, red over white, with three white triangles.
Jan Zrzavy, 11 June 2000

Another unofficial flag for Franconia can be seen at this website. This seems to be a banner-of-arms, however rotated 90 degrees. This would certainly be used as vertical flag as well as horizontal flag.
Marcus Schmöger, 28 January 2001

Hanging (unofficial) flag

[Franconia hanging flag] image by Marcus Schmöger, 12 Jul 2002

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung of 8 July 2002 (p. 47) there was a foto of a meeting of the Frankenbund (Franconians' Association) showing a variant of the (unofficial) Franconian flag as a "Banner" (hanging flag).
Marcus Schmöger, 12 Jul 2002

A flag quarrel

In the beginning of 2008, the Minister for inner affairs of Bavaria, Joachim Hermann, decided to flag all public buildings everyday with the flags of Bavaria, Germany and (if there is a third pole) European Union.

Two flags are raised on the imperial castle of Nürnberg, the German black-red-gold and the Bavarian white-blue. But Nürnberg is the biggest city of Franconia. The Franconians are a German tribe, which is living in northern Bavaria and is underlining its difference from the Bavarian tribe. In 19th century Franconia became part of the Bavaria.

The SPD in the city council of Nürnberg asked to raise the Franconian red-white-flag..The president of the Franconian Union, Joachim Kalb, called the current
situation as "circumstances like in colonial times".

The Minister explained, there is no free pole for the Franconian flag on the castle. The Edict request the other flags. Anyhow, the minister of finance is responsible for the flags on the castle.

The mayor of Nürnberg is now thinking about raising the Franconian flag on a tower, which is belonging to the city.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 28th August 2008.
J. Patrick Fischer, 9 Nov 2008