Conversation so far:
were there earlier forms of the german flag why have the changes been made
The Holy Roman Empire had an imperial banner: a black eagle on a golden background. In 1778 the Fürstentum Reuß-Greiz adopted the flag in its modern tri-color arrangement.
do the colors on the the german flag
Since the mid-19th century, Germany has two competing traditions of national colours, black-red-gold and black-white-red.
when did the black-white-red germany flag appear
The colours black-white-red appeared for the first time only in 1867, in the constitution of the North German Confederation.

Question: where did the original colors come from
Self-contained rewrite: where did the original colors black red and gold for germany come from