Sachsen-Anhalt — Coat of Arms and Flag

Federal State	Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt)
Capital	Magdeburg
Coat of Arms adopted	28 January 1991 (readopted)
Flag adopted	16 July 1992 (constitution)
Colors	Gold and black
Region	Central-eastern Germany

Blazon

Per pale: dexter, barry of ten sable and or, a bend sinister vert charged with a Rautenkranz or (Saxony); sinister, or, a bear passant sable armed and langued gules on a wall gules (Anhalt). Ensigned with a people's crown (Volkskrone) of gold.

Elements and Symbolism

• Dexter — barry of Saxony with Rautenkranz — the historic arms of the Duchy and Electorate of Saxony: ten alternating black and gold horizontal stripes overlaid with the diagonal green rue-leaf band. Inherited from the Ascanian dukes of Saxony and adopted by the Wettin dynasty in 1423, these arms represent the former Prussian Province of Saxony, which included the cities of Magdeburg, Halle, and Erfurt (the latter now in Thüringen).
• Sinister — black bear of Anhalt on a red wall — the ancient arms of the Ascanian Princes of Anhalt, borne since the 12th century. The black bear passant (walking) on a gold field is the symbol of the dynasty's Anhalt line; the red wall beneath it distinguishes these arms from the plain Ascanian bear used by Brandenburg and Berlin. The bear's ancestral association is with Aschersleben, the original Ascanian seat.
• People's crown (Volkskrone) — a civic gold crown ensigning the shield, expressing democratic sovereignty rather than monarchical authority.

Historical Development

The Ascanians are the heraldic common ancestor of both halves of the shield: the same dynasty produced the Saxon dukes (barry arms) and the Anhalt princes (bear arms) as cadet branches in the 12th century. When Sachsen-Anhalt was first created in 1945 by the Soviet occupation authority, a combined shield was designed to reflect this dual heritage. Suppressed when the GDR dissolved the state in 1952, the coat of arms was formally readopted on 28 January 1991 after the state's reconstitution, and confirmed by the state constitution of 16 July 1992.

Colors and Design

The flag of Sachsen-Anhalt consists of two equal horizontal stripes: gold (yellow) above black. The state service flag (Dienstflagge) additionally bears the divided coat of arms centered across both stripes. Gold and black are the colors of the Ascanian dynasty, reflecting both the Saxon barry (black and gold stripes) and the Anhalt arms (black bear on gold field).

Historical Origin

The gold-and-black bicolor was adopted for Sachsen-Anhalt when the state was established in 1945. It was suppressed under the GDR but restored upon reunification. The flag was confirmed by the state constitution on 16 July 1992. The reversed order — gold above black, rather than the Prussian black above white — distinguishes Sachsen-Anhalt clearly from its neighbors.

Modern Usage

The gold-black flag flies on all state buildings and the Landtag in Magdeburg. Sachsen-Anhalt's flag is immediately recognizable at national events due to its distinctive gold-over-black arrangement, unusual among German state flags which predominantly use the national tricolor or white-green bicolors.

What does the coat of arms of Sachsen-Anhalt represent?

The divided shield combines the barry of Saxony with the green Rautenkranz (Ascanian-Wettin arms) and the black bear of Anhalt on a red wall (Ascanian Anhalt line). Both halves trace back to the same medieval Ascanian dynasty, reflecting the 1945 merger of the Province of Saxony and the Free State of Anhalt.

What does the Anhalt bear symbolize?

The black bear passant on a gold field is the ancient symbol of the Ascanians in their Anhalt line, borne by the Princes of Anhalt since the 12th century. The red wall beneath the bear distinguishes Anhalt's arms from the plain Ascanian bear used by Berlin and Brandenburg.

When was the coat of arms of Sachsen-Anhalt readopted?

The coat of arms was readopted on 28 January 1991, following the reconstitution of the state on 3 October 1990 after German reunification.

What do the colors gold and black on the Sachsen-Anhalt flag mean?

Gold and black are the colors of the Ascanian dynasty, which ruled both Saxony and Anhalt in the medieval period. They appear in the barry stripes of the Saxon arms and the field of the Anhalt arms, unifying the two halves of the state under a shared dynastic color scheme.

What is the blazon of the Sachsen-Anhalt coat of arms?

Per pale: dexter, barry of ten sable and or, a bend sinister vert charged with a Rautenkranz or (Saxony); sinister, or, a bear passant sable armed and langued gules on a wall gules (Anhalt). Ensigned with a people's crown of gold.

• Landesarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt — historical records of the Province of Saxony and the Principality of Anhalt
• Staatskanzlei Sachsen-Anhalt — official description of state symbols
• Gert Oswald, Lexikon der Heraldik, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1984
• Lutz Partenheimer, Albrecht der Bär, Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2003

Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on June 29, 2026.