I’m taking a short class on the history of Baden-Württemburg, the region of Germany we live in. This region is only 60 years old, having been formed by popular referendum in 1952. Why were they creating a new region of Germany in 1952? Well, here’s my rather oversimplified version of the story:

Prior to 1945, Baden, Württemburg, and a third area called Hohenzollern were all separate regions.  Baden and Württemburg stretch out next to each other more or less north to south in the Southwestern part of Germany, while Hohenzollern was a little self-contained circular area surrounded by Württemburg.

In 1945, the Allied forces won WWII, and the German forces lost, and, well, to the victor go the spoils, as they say.  The Americans and the French forces were both trying to get part of this Southwestern chunk of the country to run. Now, it so happened that an autobahn was built that runs east to (north) west from Munich to Manheim, and the Americans decided they wanted that in their sector. The highway originally cut across both Baden and Württemburg, so when the Americans used that as their sector’s southern boundary, it meant the boundaries for new American and French sectors bisected both old Baden and old Württemberg.

To further complicate matters, the French kept the some of the old regional divisions in their sector, making two new regions. The Americans, on the other hand, consolidate their two halves of the old regions together, making one new region.

So, from 1945-1951 there were 3 regions in the area, but a different 3 than before the war:

1. Baden: The French controlled half of the old Baden
2. Württemberg-Hohenzollern: The French controlled half of the old Württemberg, which included the part that surrounded Hohzollern.
3. Württemberg-Baden: The American controlled half of the old Baden plus the American controlled half of the old Württemberg.

During those 6 years, there was a bunch of debate about whether or not the regions should all be united into one region, or whether they should break up back into the original 3 regions, etc. After lengthy debate, it was put to a popular vote, and the majority of the folks in 1951 voted to have the 3 regions merge together as one.

Well, actually, a majority of the people in Württemberg-Hohenzollern and
Württemberg-Baden voted to have the 3 regions merge together in 1951. The majority of the people in Baden actually voted the other way. But, the votes from all the 3 regions were counted together, providing a simple majority that prevailed. The folks in Baden were none-too-thrilled, however, and took the issue to court. Finally, in 1970, they got their wish to have another vote taken.  However, by that time, people were happy with the way things had turned out with the united region, and 89% of the vote in Baden in 1970 was in favor of the merger after all.

But I digress …. but then again, so did the class on this point today.

Anyway, in 1952, on the 25th of April at 12:30pm, the new constitution was signed. We know the exact time that the new region was proclaimed, as the new Prime Minister famously took out his pocket watch at that moment and proclaimed that a new region that merged Baden, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Württemberg-Baden had just been founded.

Complicated to say, but that’s pretty much how that guy with the watch had to announce it. You see, it turned out the politicians had agreed on the new constitution without having agreed upon a name for the new region. It took them another 1.5 years to settle on a new name. And of course the new name they came up with was one that must confound school students ever since when they are trying to keep this story straight in their heads, the new name of “Baden-Württemberg” being so different from any of the old names, after all. 😉

Another year went by and they then managed to come up a coat of arms. They took the symbol of Württemberg, the stag, and the symbol of Baden, the griffon, which together  hold up the Baden-Württemberg shield. There was much debate over which animal got to be on the left or the right, apparently, the idea being that the one of the right is more powerful. Poor Hohenzollern gets a tiny nod as one of the little shields across the top of the big shield: it’s the black and white one second from the left. But then Hohenzollern got ignored in the new naming scheme all together, so at least being included at all in the coat of arms must have been a big win.

If you look carefully, you can see that the 3 lions on the shield have red tongues, which I saw mentioned in almost everything I read about this coat of arms today. What nobody mentions, though, why the stag and the have red toenails. It’s very stylish, though – I like it.

Baden Wuerttemberg Coat of Arms (image from Wikimedia Commons)