🇩🇪Germany·National Coat of Arms·since 1950
🦅Federal Eagle (Bundesadler)
Same bird, redesigned every regime change.
The black eagle on a gold field — the Bundesadler — has appeared on German emblems for over a thousand years, going back to the Holy Roman Empire. The modern stylized version was adopted by West Germany in 1950 and continued after reunification.
Why this animal?
Continuity. The eagle has represented Germanic states since Charlemagne, surviving the Holy Roman Empire, the German Confederation, the Empire, the Weimar Republic, and (in altered form) every government since. Adopting it again in 1950 was a deliberate link to pre-Nazi German history.
Things to know
- ·Every German parliament chamber displays its own version of the eagle — the Bundestag's is informally nicknamed the 'fat hen.'
- ·Real golden eagles do live in the Bavarian Alps, though they were nearly extirpated in the 20th century and have only recently recovered.
- ·Coins minted in Germany since 2002 still feature variations of the federal eagle.
- ·The eagle has been redrawn or restyled at least a dozen times across German history — the symbol persists, the artwork keeps changing.
- ·Germany also informally honors the European stork as a folk symbol — storks are protected and welcomed onto rooftops in many villages.