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County and Municipal Flags (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany)

Landkreis- und Gemeindeflaggen

County Flags (Landkreisflaggen):
City and Municipal Flags (Stadt- und Gemeindeflaggen):
County-Free City Flags (Flaggen kreisfreier Städte):
City of Anklam (Stadt Anklam)

Counties:

Demmin county / Landkreis Demmin
Ludwigslust County (Landkreis Ludwigslust)
Nordvorpommern County (Landkreis Nordvorpommern)
Parchim County (Landkreis Parchim)
Rügen County (Landkreis Rügen)

Cities:

City of Greifswald (Hansestadt Greifswald)
City of Neubrandenburg (Stadt Neubrandenburg)
City of Rostock (Hansestadt Rostock)
City of Schwerin (Landeshauptstadt Schwerin)
City of Stralsund (Hansestadt Stralsund)
City of Wismar (Hansestadt Wismar)

See also:

Regional Flags (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania / Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
Mecklenburg-West Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany)
Hanseatic Cities (Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland)
Germany

County Flags / Kreisflaggen

Legislation about county flags from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Government official website (my translation):
"Constitution for Local Entities of the Federal State Mecklenburg-West Pomerania - Version published on 13th January 1998 (Law and Official Gazette for Mecklenburg-West Pomerania p. 29 through p. 890) (...) - Part 2 Regime for Counties - Section 1 Principles of the Counties Constitution (...) - Paragraph 95
Coats-of-arms, flags und seals
The counties have the right to have coats-of-arms and flags..
Santiago Dotor, 25 Oct 2001

Municipal Flags / Gemeindeflaggen

Legislation about municipal flags from the Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Government official website (my translation):
Constitution for Local Entities of the Federal State Mecklenburg-West Pomerania - Version published on 13th January 1998 - (Law and Official Gazette for Mecklenburg-West Pomerania p. 29 through p. 890) (...) - Part 1 Regime for Municipalities - Section 1 Principles of the Municipal Constitution (...) - Paragraph 9
Coats-of-arms, flags und seals:
(1) The municipalities have the right to have coats-of-arms and flags in accordance with their history and with democratic principles. The adoption of new coats-of-arms and flags and their modification needs the approval of the Interior Ministry.
Santiago Dotor, 25 Oct 2001

County-Free City Flags / Flaggen kreisfreier Städte

Mecklenburg-West Pomerania has six county-free cities (kreisfreie Städte): Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund and Greifswald. The latter four (all of them situated on the Baltic coast) officially adopted the title Hansestadt [hanseatic city] after 1990 in imitation of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck. Contrary to the latter, who are/were city-states on their own, the title does not have any special significance. All six flags are shown on Staack 1997 and described in Günther 1998a (available online here, [images available in zipped PDF format from this page]) and Günther 1999a (available online here).
Stefan Schwoon, 13 Feb 2001

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Wismar, Rostock, Stralsund and Greifswald were all Hanseatic cities. Hanseatic cities were not necessarily independent city-states, the league was commercial rather than political.
John Ayer, 15 Feb 2001

The league was primarily concerned with the protection of trade, but it also entered military conflicts — e.g. against the Danish crown. John Ayer is right that these cities were in fact former members of the Hansa, and that the title does not imply independence of the cities. Let me clarify my remark. Previously to 1990, the only cities that called themselves Hanseatic City (as an official part of their name, that is) were Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck. These three happened to be independent city states (at present or in the past). The casual observer might therefore (or for other reasons) think that the title Hansestadt conveys a special status — which it does not.
Stefan Schwoon, 15 Feb 2001

Anklam city

[Anklam (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany)]

3:5

- image by Jan Oskar Engene, 13 May 1996

Anklam is a city of ca. 18,000 citizens in the Pomeranian part of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The flag is that of Pomerania, dark blue over white, with the coat of arms of Anklam on it. The coat of arms shows a red griffin with gold claws (of Pomerania) over a grey town wall (for Anklam) on a blue field. The griffin is holding the symbol of Stralsund (a bundle of three straight horns, musical instruments). [On an actual flag I saw] above the shield was the word Anklam in white, underneath it the word Vorpommern [Hither Pomerania] in black. I tried asking the people representing the town whether the words were officially a part of the flag or just put there for convenience, but I did not get a clear answer. To my knowledge Anklam was kicked out of the Hansa back in the 1500's or 1600's, when revolting citizens murdered the senate and the mayor, but this information needs verification.
Tilo Moede, 15 May 1997