When the Buchenwald Concentration Camp was liberated by the Americans on April 11, 1945, committees were formed to represent the prisoners of each nationality. On April 30, they organized a demonstration to celebrate the First of May. Each nationality chose to display a flag, and after much debate Germany was represented by a red flag with a gold five-pointed star in the center. The choice was not surprising as the Germany camp committee was dominated by Communist prisoners at the time.

After the defeat of Germany in World War II, the country was placed under Allied administration. Although there was no national German government and no German flag, German ships were required by international law to have a national ensign of some kind.

The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany, was formed from the Western Allies part of conquered Germany, with Bonn as its capitol. The city of Berlin, located 30 miles inside of East Germany, was divided into West and East Berlin. West Berlin, located on the Soviet side of Germany, was still part of West Germany. Stalin tried to starve the West Berliners into submission during the "Berlin Blockade" in 1948, but the United States successful flew supplies into the beleaguered city in the "Berlin Airlift" until Stalin backed down and lifted the blockade. The Communists built the "Berlin Wall" across the city and it became a symbol of the Cold War.

This flag with the "Bundesschild" (a special coat of arms) on it, is called "Bundesdienstflagge," which can be translated as "Service Flag for Federal Institutions."

The German military forces at sea are using this special swallow-tailed "Bundesdienstflagge." This swallow-tailed flag is used as ensign and also as jack, the latter in scaled down size.

At the end of World War II, the USSR set up friendly buffer nations in Eastern Europe. The German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, was one of those "satellite" nations, with East Berlin as its capital.

In 1959, the Communist East Germans (GDR) introduced a special Merchant Flag, which was used until 1973. This flag was only used until 1973 because the leaders of the GDR thought that the coat-of-arms was too small, as displayed on the Merchant Flag, and that it might have been mistaken for the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The German Democratic Republic Vertical Banner/Flag was in use as early as 1963 and continued to be used until the reunification of German in 1990. It was used at ceremonies and official events as a decorative item, and was seen at such public places as check points, public plazas, and assembly halls (Checkpoint Selmsdorf near Lübeck and the Alexanderplatz in East Berlin, for example). It was appeared on a East German postage stamp (15 years anniversary stamp of DDR, 1964).

This is the flag of the City of Bonn which would act as capital of West Germany for 50 years until Germany was reunited and the infamous Berlin Wall torn down. Since the traditional capital city of Germany was Berlin, which found itself divided into West Berlin and East Berlin and actually located 60 miles behind the Iron Curtin in East Germany, the City of Bonn became the new capital of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Founded in the thirteenth century, Berlin was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701–1918), the German Empire (1871–1918), the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and the Third Reich (1933–1945). After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a Western exclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall (1961–1989). Today, Berlin is once again the capital city of Germany and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million, Berlin is Germany's largest city.

The Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr (GenInspBw)) is the highest-ranking military post in the Bundeswehr, the modern German armed forces. Normally, his rank of that of a (four star) General or Admiral.