Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (, ""Black, Red, Gold Banner of the Reich"") was an organization in Germany during the Weimar Republic, formed by members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the German Centre Party, and the (liberal) German Democratic Party in 1924. Its goal was to defend parliamentary democracy against internal subversion and extremism from the left and right, to teach the population to respect the new Republic, to honor its flag and the constitution. Its name is derived from the Flag of Germany adopted in 1919, the colors of which were associated with liberal parliamentary democracy and
Heinrich Schwarz semi-autonomous administrative units: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and the Auschwitz III-Monowitz labor camp. Under this new arrangement Schwarz was given command of Auschwitz III-Monowitz in December 1943. Central to the role Schwarz played as commandant was the provision of slave-laborers to the nearby Buna Werke, a synthetic rubber factory owned by the German chemical company IG Farben. Other German corporations, such as Siemens and Krupp, also received slave labor from Monowitz. The brutal working conditions which prevailed at Monowitz during the period Schwarz served as commandant resulted in a large number of deaths among the inmate population, with estimates ranging