Coat of arms of Austria

The current coat of arms of the Republic of Austria has been in use in its first forms by the First Republic of Austria since 1919. Between 1934 and the German annexation in 1938, the Federal State (Bundesstaat Österreich) used a different coat of arms, which consisted of a double-headed eagle (one-party corporate state led by the clerico-right-wing Fatherland Front, often labeled Austro-fascist). The establishment of the Second Republic in 1945 saw the return of the original arms, with broken chains added to symbolise Austria's liberation. In 1981 the Wappen der Republik Österreich (Bundeswappen) described the blazon in the Federal Constitutional Law (Austrian act) (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz, B-VG). With this change of law it was defined that the specific drawing is to codificate in an own statute law and that all other versions of the coat of arms of Austria were no longer in law. In accordance to this the Wappengesetz from 1984 and the drawing of the actual Wappen der Republik Österreich is in Austrian law. The often used Bundesadler (federal eagle) is only a synonymous term in colloquial language. In Art. 8a Abs. 2 B-VG the blazon of the Federal Arms of the Republic of Austria is described as follows: Das Wappen der Republik Österreich (Bundeswappen) besteht aus einem freischwebenden, einköpfigen, schwarzen, golden gewaffneten und rot bezungten Adler, dessen Brust mit einem roten, von einem silbernen Querbalken durchzogenen Schild belegt ist. Der Adler trägt auf seinem Haupt eine goldene Mauerkrone mit drei sichtbaren Zinnen. Die beiden Fänge umschließt eine gesprengte Eisenkette. Er trägt im rechten Fang eine goldene Sichel mit einwärts gekehrter Schneide, im linken Fang einen goldenen Hammer. In translation: The coat of arms of the Republic of Austria (federal coat of arms) consists of a free-floating, single-headed, black eagle with golden arms and a red tongue, whose chest is covered with a red shield crossed by a silver crossbar. The eagle wears a golden mural crown with three visible pinnacles on its head.