 Two other states that were created after the war, Rhineland-Palatinate (French zone) and Lower Saxony (British zone), chose to use the black-red-gold tricolour as their flag, defaced with the state's coat of arms.These two states were formed from parts of other states, and no colour combinations from these previous states were accepted as a new state flag.This led to the use of the black-red-gold for two reasons