1956, 1960 and 1964, German athletes competed as a United Team of Germany (EUA), but 1968 until the end of the Cold War, the two states sent independent teams designated as West and East Germany, until the separate East German state ceased to exist. United Team of Germany 1956–1964 After three German states had been founded in Germany under occupation after World War II, athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) competed together as the United Team of Germany (EUA for , ) in the 1956, 1960, and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympics. Prior to that, German athletes from West Germany and the French-occupied Saar Protectorate took part in the 1952 Summer Olympics organized in different teams designated as GER and SAA. The Saar Protectorate joined the Federal Republic after 1955, while the East German authorities, which had not taken part in the 1952 Games, agreed in 1956 to let their athletes compete in a united team that used the black-red-gold tricolour, but with additional Olympic rings in white placed upon the red middle stripe, as East German politicians were eager not to compete under the traditional German flag used both by West Germany and even themselves. Only in 1959, the GDR added socialist symbols to create a distinct Flag of East Germany. As the use of the Deutschlandlied, dating back to 1841 and 1797, of the recently created East German anthem, or of possible combinations was also rejected, Beethoven's melody to Schiller's Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy) was played for winning German athletes as a compromise in lieu of a national anthem. During the Games of 1956, 1960 and 1964 the traditional abbreviation GER for Germany was used, or rather the equivalents in the language of the host country. In Innsbruck in 1964, the Austrian officials used the international license plate code of D for Deutschland (Germany) for the country. The IOC code currently uses EUA (from the official French-language IOC designation, Equipe Unifiée Allemande) and applies this in hindsight for the United German Team. No reasoning is given, it may be done to allow for the political circumstances during the German divide between 1949 and 1990, and the involvement of two National Olympic Committees rather than only one. Despite initially calling for a "united Germany" in the East German anthem, the socialist East German government