214. What are the colors of the German flag?

Answer options

1. black-red-gold
2. red-white-black
3. black-red-green
4. black-yellow-red

Explanation

Constitutionally, the federal colors are black-red-gold: Article 22(2) of the Basic Law defines the federal flag as a horizontal tricolor and explicitly uses “gold,” not “yellow.” The palette derives from the republican-democratic tradition of the 1848 revolution and the Lützow Free Corps and was constitutionalized in Article 3 of the Weimar Constitution. By contrast, the imperial combination black-white-red (option 2) and the National Socialist flag signified a rupture with that tradition. Restored in 1949 and used nationwide since reunification in 1990—with the GDR adding its state emblem to the tricolor from 1959—the federal flag today symbolizes the free democratic basic order.