God with us

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German belt lock, World War II

God with us was the motto of the Prussian royal family (since 1701) and thus also of the German Emperor (since 1871). It was also used by the Bundeswehr in West Germany until 1962 . The saying is taken from the book Judit ( Jdt 13.11  EU ) and was also used as a battle cry by the Prussian side during the wars of liberation . Prussian teams have carried it on their belt locks since the introduction of Virchow luggage in 1847 . Since 1861 it has also been the motto of the Prussian Order of the Crown . All 3 and 5 mark pieces of the German Empire bear the marginal inscription GOTT MIT UNS (see also the commemorative coin for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation in 1917 ). The saying was also found on the belt locks of the soldiers of the Reichswehr after the end of the monarchy and in the Second World War of the Wehrmacht (with the exception of the air force ). The Schutzstaffel , however, carried the motto My honor is loyalty .

The Bundeswehr has been using the words unity, law and freedom on their belt locks since 1962 . The police forces used the slogan until the 1970s.

It was also one of the motto of the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf and the battle cry of his army , later also of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years War .

The Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig bears the saying as an inscription above the statue of the Archangel Michael .

origin

Nobiscum deus ("God with us") was the battle cry of the late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire , in German this phrase was first used by the Teutonic Order .

The motto God with us is a literal translation of the Hebrew name Immanu-El (עמנואל) and alludes to the oracle of salvation of the prophet Isaiah for the Judean king Ahaz in 733 BC. Chr. (Isaiah 7,14 LUT etc.), which was later interpreted as messianic (cf. Matthew 1,23 LUT ).

Individual evidence

  1. Explanation from the central archive in Speyer
  2. On Virchow's luggage, cf. the memorandum about a suitable way of carrying infantry luggage or about the necessity: to distribute the load to be carried according to the structure of the body .
  3. ^ John Haldon : Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World. (Taylor & Francis, Inc .; ISBN 978-1-85728-495-9 ) Google Books , 1999, p. 24 , accessed July 24, 2009 .