Flag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
The flag of Mecklenburg–Vorpommern is the flag used by the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (also known as "Mecklenburg-West Pomerania"). Five official proposed flags were put forward in 1990, but all were rejected. In the end, a design by Norbert Buske, then a member of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern parliament, was adopted. It was not preferred by German vexillologists. For a short time in 1990, an unofficial flag (the tricolor of Mecklenburg, defaced with its arms) was used. Civil flag. The civil flag ("Landesflagge") shows five horizontal stripes, blue-white-yellow-white-red, shown in  a range of proportions, most commonly 4:3:1:3:4. The blue stripe, defined as "ultramarinblau" (ultramarine), is topmost. The central stripe is yellow, the lowermost red ("zinnoberrot"). It reflects the state colors of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (blue, white, yellow and red), which are defined under Article 1 of the state's constitution. Both flags are flown with the proportions 3:5. It was created by merging the flags of Mecklenburg (a horizontal tricolor of blue-gold-red) and the Prussian Province of Pomerania (a bicolor of blue-white), in use since 1882. State flag. The state flag ("Dienstflagge") is the civil flag, defaced with  a bull's head and a griffin (two symbols from the coat of arms of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). The central yellow stripe is interrupted for this purpose. It is flown as a jack by state police boats, and by official state bodies. It is also flown on official occasions. The bull's head is shown on the hoist, and the griffin on the fly.