Coat of arms in Germany

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A coat of arms is a non-sovereign sign that resembles an official coat of arms and, in contrast to this, can be freely used by anyone. By issuing a specially developed emblem, most federal states and also some cities are responding to the request of private individuals, associations or companies to document their affiliation or attachment to "their" country or "their" city using a coat of arms-like emblem. Coats of arms are mostly a reduced, stylized and modernized variant of the official coat of arms.

The states of Brandenburg , Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania use a so-called state logo instead of a coat of arms . The national logo is always a figurative word mark - the figurative element is combined with a text element. State logos may either not be used by citizens and associations or only after approval within the framework of a usage agreement.

Landessymbol or Landessignet are further designations that are used for coats of arms of countries and for country logos. The term country symbol can also be used for official coats of arms and flags.

background

Official coats of arms are national emblems . Due to their sovereign function, the use of the coat of arms is limited to state institutions, such as state governments, authorities and public institutions, which in particular can give documents an official character. Coats of arms may not be misused. In order to counteract the risk of misuse of the official coat of arms, unauthorized use, including partial use, is threatened with a fine as an administrative offense.

In order to rule out improper use of an official coat of arms, an alienated form of the coat of arms is often attached to souvenirs, for example. In the same way, coats of arms offer the possibility to express the bond with the actual commander of the coat of arms without using the sovereign coat of arms.

Use of heraldic symbols

Federal states

There are currently coats of arms in 12 of the 16 federal states. There are two coats of arms in Bavaria : one for the state of Bavaria and one for the region of Franconia . Two designs of the coat of arms were developed in Saxony : a modern and a classic version. For the states of Saarland , Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt , the name of the state was added as a lettering above the coat of arms . In addition to the colored heraldic symbols shown below, the state governments usually also publish a black and white version (see web links).

The Baden-Württemberg logo was abolished in 2016 by the state government, which was bothered by the similarity between the state coat of arms and the logo.

Cities (example)

Country logos

In Brandenburg and Lower Saxony , the state logo consists of a stylized heraldic animal and lettering with the name of the state. In the state signet of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , the graphic element consists of four colors and is therefore more reminiscent of a stylized flag; The slogan “ MV tut gut ” is added to the name of the country .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. § 124 OWiG
  2. ↑ State symbol of Bavaria ( Memento of the original from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. stmi.bayern.de @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stmi.bayern.de
  3. ↑ State symbol of Berlin berlin.de
  4. ^ Bremen coat of arms landesportal.bremen.de
  5. The Hamburg symbol hamburg.de
  6. Hessian coat of arms and Hessen sign inside.hessen.de
  7. ^ State coat of arms of North Rhine-Westphalia and North Rhine-Westphalia symbol land.nrw
  8. Coat of arms and coat of arms of Rhineland-Palatinate rlp.de
  9. ^ Saarland symbol saarland.de
  10. a b Coat of arms and flags of Saxony freistaat.sachsen.de, see Landessignet, modern and classic variant
  11. coat of arms and emblem of the state stk.sachsen-anhalt.de
  12. ^ Schleswig-Holstein - state coat of arms schleswig-holstein.de
  13. Corporate Design of the Free State of Thuringia: Thüringen-Signet thueringen.de
  14. The state coat of arms baden-wuerttemberg.de
  15. State wants to abolish BW logo stuttgarter-zeitung.de, August 25, 2016
  16. State coat of arms and Baden-Württemberg logo baden-wuerttemberg.de (archived website, as of 2015)
  17. Düsseldorf coat of arms duesseldorf.de
  18. Lower Saxony sign niedersachsen.de
  19. ↑ State symbols mecklenburg-vorpommern.eu