Democracy Destroyed The First 100 Days of Nazi Rule

Laws and decrees

Order Reich Minister of the Interior (Frick)

Order on Flying the Swastika Flag on Merchant Ships

Erlaß über das Setzen der Hakenkreuzflagge auf Kauffahrteischiffen

From 1 May 1933 every German merchant ship had to fly the swastika flag, the size of the shipping line’s house flag, from the signal stay or the starboard signal yard, alongside the black-white-red ensign at the stern. Issued by Frick after consulting the Transport Minister, the coastal states and the German Shipowners’ Association, it carried the Nazi Party’s flag on to the high seas and into foreign ports. The order was dated 29 April and took effect on 1 May, but appeared in the Reichsgesetzblatt only on 6 May.

Dated
Saturday 29 April 1933
Published in
Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I, no. 47, Saturday 6 May 1933, p. 244
Citation
RGBl. I S. 244
In force
Monday 1 May 1933

On the day pages

  1. Signed Day 90, Saturday 29 April 1933
The Reichsgesetzblatt Teil I page on which the measure was published
RGBl. I S. 244. Commons record

The text

Erlaß über das Setzen der Hakenkreuzflagge auf Kauffahrteischiffen.
Order on Flying the Swastika Flag on Merchant Ships.
Vom 29. April 1933.
Of 29 April 1933.
Im Benehmen mit dem Herrn Reichsverkehrsminister, den Regierungen der deutschen Seeuferstaaten und dem Verband Deutscher Reeder bestimme ich:
In consultation with the Reich Minister of Transport, the governments of the German coastal states and the German Shipowners’ Association, I determine:
Ab 1. Mai führen alle deutschen Kauffahrteischiffe neben der am Heck zu setzenden schwarz-weiß-roten Flagge die Hakenkreuzflagge am Signalstag oder an der Steuerbord-Signalraa. Die Hakenkreuzflagge hat die Größe der Kontorflagge.
From 1 May all German merchant ships shall fly, in addition to the black-white-red flag to be hoisted at the stern, the swastika flag on the signal stay or at the starboard signal yard. The swastika flag shall be the size of the house flag.
Berlin, den 29. April 1933.
Berlin, 29 April 1933.
Der Reichsminister des Innern Frick
The Reich Minister of the Interior Frick

About this text

The full text is given. Transcribed from the RGBl. scan (issue 47, p. 244); compared word by word with documentArchiv.de, which misprints ‘Steuerbord’ as ‘Stuerbord’; the gazette’s text is kept.

The English translation was made for this site and is not an official translation. ‘Erlaß’ of a minister is rendered ‘Order’, following the site’s glossary. ‘Setzen’ is the seaman’s word for hoisting a flag.

German laws and decrees are official works and not protected by copyright (§ 5 UrhG).

Terms

Kauffahrteischiffe
Merchant ships: the old legal term for vessels engaged in trade, as distinct from warships and state vessels.
Kontorflagge
House flag: the flag of the shipping company, normally flown from the mainmast.
schwarz-weiß-rote Flagge
The black-white-red flag of the Empire. Under the Weimar Republic the merchant flag had been black-white-red with the republican black-red-gold in the upper corner by the staff.
Seeuferstaaten
The German states with a sea coast, such as Prussia, Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck, which kept responsibilities for shipping and ports.

Sources

  1. Reichsgesetzblatt 1933 Teil I, Nr. 47 (6. Mai 1933), S. 244 (Reichsministerium des Innern; scan on Wikimedia Commons)
  2. Erlaß über das Setzen der Hakenkreuzflagge auf Kauffahrteischiffen (29.04.1933) (transcription) (documentArchiv.de)

Gazette scans: public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.