When you think of Germany, what comes to mind? I assume, if you’ve never been, probably the classics: beer and [Bretzeln]¹? If you’ve been, maybe our castles, our [Autobahn]²? Maybe our many, many wonderful historical buildings or pretty forests? Well, either way, don’t really know where I wanted to go with this. Ah, yes – Germany’s old. And we’ve got so much history even beyond what is, well, the darkest and most well-known chapter of my home country. And as so many other countries, we also have our very own national symbols. But what are they?

Germany’s national animal: the black eagle

We’re not as cool as Scotland or Wales. To be fair, no one is. In fact, let me just find out who has the most fantastic national animal and let me get back to you.

Alright, I’m back. I found out that Denmark’s national animal is the red squirrel (as their national mammal, they have a national bird and butterfly too? Looks like that’s a thing in Scandinavia! I love our neighbours even more now. Ah, except for Sweden. They just love their elk). I am also quite a big fan of the cream-coloured courser of Tunisia – both because it’s a really cute bird and my love for alliterations. Anyway, at the bottom of this really interesting list, there’s the section “Mythical National Animals”, and there they are: Lebanon, Phoenix. Wales, Red Dragon. Scotland, Unicorn. Serbia, White Eagle. England, by the way? A lion. Not that a lion isn’t pretty cool, but come on. Dragon, Unicorn and – a lion?

Okay, that was quite a tangent, sorry about that. Anyway, so all I meant to say was that we’re not as cool as Wales and Scotland, but our national animal is the black eagle. In Germany, we call it the Bundesadler, which is a compound word of “Bund” (federation) and “Adler” (eagle). Yep, you read that right, our national animal is the federation eagle!

We’ve got it as a symbol of strength and freedom and apparently we’ve had it since the 12th century, but officially since the 1950s. You can find it on anything – our coat of arms, government seals, our national sports teams, money (1€ and 2€ coins) – you get the idea. You can probably spot it just walking through German cities quite a bunch as well!

Germany’s flag and national hymn

Germany’s flag are three horizontal stripes: black, red and gold (not yellow!). They trace back to the early 19th century where they were used by Germany’s democratic movements and they symbolise unity, freedom and democracy.

Those values are also mirrored in the German hymn, the [Deutschlandlied]³, – which, fun fact number one, is a combination of the lyrics by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798 – 1874) and the melody by Joseph Haydn in 1797 (1732 – 1809), created independently from one another – not together, like lots of other national hymns are.

Fun fact number two, we didn’t have an official hymn for a a few years (1949 – 1953), but the Germans really wanted to, so we kindly asked the chancellor at that time (I say “at that time” – it’s Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of the new, now Federal Republic of Germany) to add it back in.

Fun fact number three, we only sing the third verse of the entire lyrics. You might already guess the reason for this. The lyrics of the first and second verse are, in today’s circumstances, easily misunderstood. Specifically the first verse has been played and sung for propagandic reasons during 1933 and after – so we rightfully disassociated ourselves from that.

Ah, and here’s the translation of the hymn for you. It’s a really pretty one, you should give it a listen!

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach laßt uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand –
𝄆 Blüh’ im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland! 𝄇

Unity and justice and freedom
For the German fatherland!
Let us strive for this together,
Brotherly with heart and hand!
Unity and justice and freedom
Are the foundation of happiness –
𝄆 Bloom in the radiance of this happiness,
Bloom, German fatherland! 𝄇

The German oak

Another thing you can find on our money (on the copper coins; 1, 2 and 5 cent) – and literally everywhere in Germany. The oak is also a powerful symbol of, I believe, endurance, strength and faith? It’s something associated with Germanic mythology for a long time now, pretty sure in our folklore it is a symbol of the gods. Either way, you’ll find oaks everywhere in Germany. There won’t be a park or even a street without it. And, to be fair, it’s a really pretty type of tree.

We had two in the garden I grew up in! We used to pick up the acorns in autumn, take our badminton rackets and catapult them over the roof, trying to catch them on the other side. Ah, childhood. Good times.

[Picture by Diana Parkhouse – thank you!]

1. Die Bretzel – bet you didn’t expect that: a pretzel. It’s just that it sounds so wrong when you pronounce it with a ‘p’. Honestly, why did you change it, English language? Why? ↩︎
2. Die Autobahn – another loan word! It’s another compound word (of course, because that’s what we do) made out of “Auto” (car) and “Bahn” (rail/course/track). Yes. It’s a rail for cars. ↩︎
3. Das Deutschlandlied – “Deutschland” (Germany) and “Lied” song. The Germany song, our hymn! ↩︎