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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;chrisild, post: 3350947, member: 39&quot;]The eagle, either with one head or two, has been used as a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire (later: H.R.E. of German Nation), for centuries. Later by the Deutsches Reich (1871-1949), then - and today - by the Federal Republic of Germany.</p><p><br /></p><p>Friedrich/Frederick &quot;Barbarossa&quot; used an eagle in the late 12th century, as a reference to ancient Rome. (As in, my empire is a continuation of the Imperium Romanum. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ) Initially that eagle was a symbol of the king, later it became a symbol of the empire and the country. The two-headed eagle refers to the duality of king and emperor.</p><p><br /></p><p>After the end of the H.R.E. (1806), the eagle was still used by Austria, Prussia and some other countries in the German speaking area. (And of course various other countries in the world, from the US to Russia.) So it was a kind of natural choice to pick the eagle for the Deutsches Reich founded in 1871. The crown on its head was removed when that country became a republic in 1918-19.</p><p><br /></p><p>The nazis added their party logo, the swastika, in 1933 (misusing an old symbol of luck), and of course that was removed at the end of WW2. But the eagle stayed, and was once again an obvious choice when the Federal Republic was founded. That is why I find it somewhat peculiar, to put it mildly, when someone states that most German coins have a swastika ...</p><p><br /></p><p>Christian[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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