[sharon.anderson1959]

I live and work in Germany. I have a German business that only services the US Forces that are stationed here.

My question is I have a sign with a 6 ft flag pole. On this flag I have the German State (Baden-Wuerttemberg) flag and then the American flag under this flag. Is this correct to respect the country and state that is the hosting the Americans, and then the American flag underneath the flag or am I incorrect.

[Peter Ansoff]

Hello, Sharon -- welcome to the forum! Thanks to you and everyone that you work with for supporting our troops over there.

I have the German State (Baden-Wuerttemberg) flag and then the American flag under this flag. Is this correct to respect the country and state that is the hosting the Americans, and then the American flag underneath the flag

While there's no written code that defines international flag usage, there are several customs and precedents that are generally recognized. One is that when the flags of two or more nations are displayed together, they should be at the same height. Another is that, when a flag is displayed above another flag, it says, symbolically, the the lower one is subordinate to the upper one.

There are two problems with your display. First, the US flag represents a nation, while the Baden-Wuerttemberg is a Land (roughly the equivalent of a US state). The national flag should have precedence, which means it should be above the Land flag. However, it also wouldn't seem right to put the US flag above the Land flag on the same pole, because B-W is not part of the USA.

Unfortunately, I don't think that there is any appropriate way to fly both the US and the B-W flags on the same pole. Also, flying the Land flag without the German national flag, alongside the US flag, seems a bit awkward. The best solution would be two have two poles, one with the US flag and the other with the B-W flag under the German flag.

Sorry that the answer isn't more positive . . . . I hope that you can work something out. Again, thanks so much for taking care of our troops.

Best regards,

Peter Ansoff