Source

State Archives of Florida, Series S278

Description

Letter from U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull to Florida Governor David Sholtz stating that the German government has informed the United States that the swastika is Germany's official and only national flag. Previously, Germany had two national flags, the swastika flag and a tricolor flag of black, white and red stripes representing Germany's old imperial past. By making the swastika Germany's sole flag, the Nazis were making a symbolic proclamation that they alone represented Germany. From the date of Hull's letter, Florida and all other states would henceforth have to recognize the swastika as Germany's national flag and display it in any official functions involving the German government.

Date

1935-09-27

Creator

Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955

Format

Letters (correspondence)

Coverage

Depression Era Florida (1926-1939)

Topic

Politics And Government

Subjects

Flags
Florida. Governor (1933-1937 : Sholtz)
Sholtz, David, 1891-1953
United States. Department of State
United States. Department of State. Office of the Secretary
WWII
World War II
World War, 1939-1945

General Note

From January 30, 1933 to December 11, 1941, when Germany declared war on the United States, the U.S. government had diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany. Meeting in Nuremberg on September 15, 1935, the German government passed a law that made the swastika flag the national flag of Germany. This law (Reich Flag Law) was significant because it signaled the beginning of Nazi Germany's official policy of segregating German Jews from the rest of the country's population and denying them civil rights. On the same day, the Nazis passed two additional laws subsequently known as the Nuremberg Laws. These laws prohibited marriage and extramarital relations between Jews and Aryans (Germans of "pure blood"), barred German women from working in Jewish households, and forbade Jews from flying the swastika flag. Although many historians ignore the Reich Flag Law when writing about the Nuremberg Laws, the flag law can be considered an anti-Semitic law as well since the Nazis regarded the swastika as the preeminent symbol of their racist and nationalist movement which, according to the Nuremberg Laws, Jews should not be allowed to honor.