German Army M-35 Double Decal Helmet from the Atlantic Front

The black, white, and red national tricolors had its foundation with the North German Confederation in 1871. The German Empire continued to use the tricolor into the First World War. After the war, the newly established Weimar Republic voted to change the national colors to black, red, and gold. Many in Germany rejected this change claiming it was merely a concession to the humiliating Treaty of Versailles. Once the Nazis established power in 1933, they reintroduced the imperial black, white, and red tricolors “to establish a link with Germany’s great past and, especially in the early years of the Nazi movement, to win over nationalist groups who considered the Black-Red-Gold nothing but a thorn in their side.”¹ The tricolors and Nazi party flag flew side by side until the Nazi swastika was named the sole flag of the German Third Reich after 1935. Hitler did not completely remove the black, white, and red tricolors, though. The color scheme remained prominent in Nazi insignia. The tricolor shield was ordered removed from wear on helmets in 1940, but period photographs show that some soldiers continued to wear it.²