These are the 'coastal provinces' of Germany. Germany only has a north shore, along the North and Baltic Seas. Although this may seem tiny, Germany is lucky to have a coastline at all. They are also international gateways to the North and East.
These flags are strikingly similar. These seemingly chance alignments of flag design seem strange, but this phenomena occurs in all nations to some degree.
The harmonious elements are the red, white, and blue horizontal tri-bars. The only difference being is that Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has an added yellow stripe down the center.
These two states link Germany with her northern eastern European partners. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is a linking point between the Germany and Denmark, while Scheleswig-Holstein is a linking point between the German and Poland.
The cultural divide between Germany and Denmark is like that of a 'half-sister' thus the relation with Poland would be more like a third cousin, once removed. Germany and Denmark have similar linguistic systems, while the Polish is a Slav Language. Thus it is easier for a German to learn Danish than it would be Polish. Likewise it would be easier for a Polish person to learn Russian than German.
Link to Part V