^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Austria - Federal State, 1934 - 1938

Österreich

Civil Flag
State Flag and War Ensign
State Ensign
Jack
High Officials Flag
War Pennant
Fatherland's Front (Kruckenkreuz)

Civil Flag

2:3

image by Željko Heimer

In use: since 12 September 1918
Adopted: 21 October 1919
Abandoned: 1938
Source: Staatsgesetzblatt Nr. 484/1919, Art. 6.
Peter Diem (1995): Die Symbole Österreichs.

The civil flag continued to be used without any change with the introduction of the Federal State.

State Flag and War Ensign

2:3

image by Željko Heimer

Adopted: 1 May 1934
Abandoned: 13 March 1938
Source: Bundesgesetzblatt für die Bundesstaat Österreich 1.5.1934, Nr. 1, Art. 3
Ausbildungsvorschrift für die Pioniertruppe, XII. Teil, 1936.

With the establishment of the Federal State a new coat of arms was adopted to replace the previous one.

State Ensign

2:3

image by Željko Heimer

Adopted: 1 May 1934
Abandoned: 13 March 1938

The coat of arms was changed on 1st May 1934, and though there is no known document changing it, presumably the state ensign was adapted, too.

Jack

4:5 image by Željko Heimer

Adopted: 1936
Abandoned: 13 March 1938
Source: Militaria Austriaca: Ausbildungsvorschrift für die Pioniertruppe, XII. Teil, 1936.

The jack with the new coat of arms and new proportions is shown in Handbook for Pioneers, according to Militaria Austriaca.

High Officials Flag

15:17 image by Željko Heimer

Adopted: 1936
Abandoned: 13 March 1938
Source: Militaria Austriaca: Ausbildungsvorschrift für die Pioniertruppe, XII. Teil, 1936.

The flag indicating the presence of high officials on Federal Army vessels was the state flag edged with a border of red and white triangles.

War Pennant

1:15~ images by Željko Heimer

Adopted: 1936
Abandoned: 13 March 1938
Source: Militaria Austriaca: Ausbildungsvorschrift für die Pioniertruppe, XII. Teil, 1936.

The war pennant on Federal Army vessels was prescribed only for patrol boats.

Fatherland's Front

Vaterländische Front

(1)

(2)

2:3 images by Željko Heimer

In use: since 11 September 1933
Adopted: 28 December 1936
Abandoned: 13 March 1938
Source: Bundesgesetz über die Flagge des Bundesstaates Österreich (BGBl. 444/1936), Art. 2 u. 3
Peter Diem (1995): Die Symbole Österreichs.
Information kindly provided by: Jan Oskar Engene

The flag of the ruling party, the Fatherland's Front, was the Austrian triband with white disk containing a red crutch-cross (Kruckenkreuz) and with a green chevron by the hoist. The green chevron was prescribed, though often not present in practice. In the law on flags of 1936 "in Austria it could be used side-by-side with the state flag".

Images and page lay-out thanks to Željko Heimer and FAME, 14 October 2001

The Kruckenkreuzflagge could not be used abroad.
Peter Diem, 16 August 2002

I came across an article in the Leeuwarder Courant of 16 May 1936. It described the '"Coup d'etat' in Austria', with chancellor Schuschnigg taking over leadership of the Fatherland's Front, and announcing that for services rendered by the Heimatschutz, the Heimatschutz colours, green-white, would be incorporated in the flag of the Fatherland's Front. This suggests that the flag as in use since 1933 was the version without the green chevron, which would then have been introduced by the adoption in 1936.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 14 December 2013

image by Marc Pasquin, 1 January 2016

Another version of the Vaterländische Front's flag taken from a photograph of a rally in 1936 is at http://austria-forum.org/af/AEIOU/Vaterl%C3%A4ndische_Front. The triband flag is also present in the photograph so it's unclear if this is just set dressing or if it represent something specific. A different version of this picture at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/TribunaFrentePatri%C3%B3ticoAustriaco1936.jpg shows a large number of what appear to be boy scout so I wonder if this might be linked.
Marc Pasquin, 1 January 2016

[This flag does not have a circle in the centre.] So far, the only flag with the circle is the one shown at http://2.bp.blogspot.com, http://cache1.asset-cache.net and http://cache1.asset-cache.net, which seems to have been the standard of party leader.

As far as I know, the triband with chevron was the official flag of the party. The white flag with flammules along the edges, I don't know its purpose, but it was clearly used a lot. It is similar to the party leader standard - the square one, with the cross over a ring - but what would that similarity indicate, I don't know either. There might be other flags beside these, too, just waiting to be discovered.
Tomislav Todorovic, 2 January 2015

I think per larger flame, there's only open space for a single small flame. That, and the unusual shape of the big flames, with one edge bowing in again towards the corner, appears to cause that edge to go through two small flames, and the other through one. So, we need to add three small flames per edge to the uncovered, visible number. Let me count. Hoistwise 11, and flywise 15 or 16? Maybe the intended impression is that the large ones are simply the small ones that the pattern would have in the corners, with the same base but with the flame grown bigger. Green is a good choice, but that might be the Heimatschutz colours again, suggesting an older design of the flag could exist without green flames.

The image is also linked at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TribunaFrentePatri%C3%B3ticoAustriaco1936.jpg. That also allows access to the description. The uploader thinks it's from 1936, and probably 10 October 1936 when Schnuschnigg became Front Führer. I'm not sure when that happened, though, considering the Leeuwarder Courant reported about something like that in May 1936.

At the foot of the tower are also some square flags of what looks like a similar design. Looking at those, I get the impression that the cross outline is rather heavy, which seems to match the flags above on this page. Is the outline on our new image thick enough, or would this have differed between flags anyway?
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 17 February 2016