Original German Pre-WWII Named Ocean Voyage 1937 Dated Tour Flag from NDL Ship SS Gneisenau – 19″ x 23″ Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Well this is something we have not had before, a vestige of the Pre-WWII days of trade, when one could travel the world working for a German shipping company. The ship SS Gneisenau was a 18,160 gross register tons (GRT) Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) ocean liner that was launched and completed in 1935. Like several other German ships of the same name, she was named after the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall and military reformer August Neidhardt von Gneisenau (1760–1831). The ships maiden voyage began on 3 January 1936, and until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, she worked NDL’s express service between Bremen and the Far East.

During one of these voyages, a German man named Rudolf Weiland was on board, and had this lovely “Tour Flag” made to commemorate all of the different countries he had been to, presumably while on board the ship. The 15 ½” x 19 ½” flag is embroidered with a few painted areas, and has a portrait mounted in the center. There is a really well executed eagle near the top, and embroidered text that reads:

ZUM ANDENKEN AN MEINE REISE NACH
INDIEN CHINA UND JAPAN

This translates to “As a memory of my voyage to India, China, and Japan”, and below this is an embroidered image of the ship, and:

S.S. GNEISENAU
1937
RUDOLF WEILAND

The flag is in very good shape, though it should be noted that the dye used on the green threading was most likely UV sensitive, resulting in all of the green fading to a grayish color. From what we can tell, the flags shown are (in clockwise order):

– Japanese “Hinomaru” National Flag
– British Red Ensign
– Turkish National Flag
– Italian National Flag
– German NSDAP Reichskriegsflagge War Ensign
– German NSDAP National Flag
– Republic of China National Flag
– Unidentified Flag
– Dutch East Indies Flag
– Greek Civil Ensign Naval Flag
– United States Flag

Definitely some interesting research potential here!