Does the German Eagle symbol have a bad meaning?

3 Comments

1. Michael says:

   May 13, 2010 at 8:11 pm

   The German eagle that I’m familiar with is actually a Prussian eagle and from the Prussian state coat of arms. Click on the link, if that relates to your family history some how I’d say go with it.
2. tracy says:

   May 13, 2010 at 8:42 pm

   Nobody would think that unless you included a swastika — and if they do, then they are very ignorant of the German Coat of Arms.

   Following is an interesting explanation of the origin of the German Coat of Arms:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Germany
3. frackledJJ says:

   May 13, 2010 at 8:50 pm

   Depends on the eagle, actually. The eagle itself still is an emblem of the German state, but it has been that for a very long time, so there are several versions of the eagle out there, some offensive (because of obvious decorations such as a swastika, which is forbidden in Germany or simply because of the “Nazi-era” style of the way the eagle is pictured), some outright wrong (because Poland, Prussia, Austria… all had a version of the eagle as their emblem, and it might be hard to tell them apart from the german eagle), and some are simply outdated.
   Me, for my part, I don’t like the official German Eagle design we have right now. I think it is ugly. You can check it out by googling pictures of the “Plenarsaal” at the “Deutsche Bundestag”. It’s hanging at the wall in the back.

   However, no, the eagle in itself is not offensive, since it is used as a German emblem even today. Just find one that you like by design, and preferably one which wasn’t designed during the years 1933 to 1945.