German Civic Heraldry

[Nerthus]

German Civic Heraldry

An old image showing the German National Arms between the arms of the former West German States and their predecessors : small shield from top left (year of oldest picture): Hamburg (1450), Bremen (1369), Braunschweig-Grubenhagen (1390), Berlin (1460), Hessen (1247), Bayern (1302), Schwaben (1216), Saarbrücken (1284), Rheinpfalz (1252), Westfalen (1480) and Schleswig-Holstein (1386); Main shield: Hamburg, Bremen, Niedersachsen, Berlin, Hessen, Bayern, Baden-Württemberg, Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Schleswig-Holstein.

Source : Heraldik aus 9 Jahrhunderten - zur Geschichte des Familienwappens, published 1984 by Pro heraldica in Stuttgart, Germany

Germany is divided in States (Länder). These states are subdivided in Landkreise or Rural districts, which are made up of municipalities (Gemeinden) and Kreisfreie Städte, or free urban districts. In some states municipalities are combined into Ämter and Grossgemeinden (larger bodies, but the individual municipalities still exist).

Source:
http://www.ngw.nl/int/dld/germany.htm

The National Arms
(including the imperial arms and the arms of the DDR, Weimarer Republik and other predecessors)

Baden-Württemberg
Bayern
Berlin
Brandenburg
Bremen
Hamburg
Hessen
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Niedersachsen
Nordrhein-Westfalen
Rheinland-Pfalz
Saarland
Sachsen
Sachsen-Anhalt
Schleswig-Holstein
Thüringen

Arms of former kingdoms, principalities, territories, states and provinces (including Prussia)

Arms of other German towns and cities (now in Poland, Russia or Lithuania)

Arms of Districts (Kreise, Landkreise):

By name
By map - present districts only

Austria