Obverse. Photo © NumisCorner.com
  • 2 Deutsche Mark 1979-1993, KM# 149, Germany, Federal Republic, Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany, 30th Anniversary of the West Germany
  • 2 Deutsche Mark 1979-1993, KM# 149, Germany, Federal Republic, Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany, 30th Anniversary of the West Germany
  • 2 Deutsche Mark 1979-1993, KM# 149, Germany, Federal Republic, Anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany, 30th Anniversary of the West Germany, Edge
Description

West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border. After 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states, became known simply as "Germany".

Obverse

The coat of arms of Germany displays a black eagle with red feet, beak and tongue on a golden field. This is the Bundesadler or "Federal Eagle", formerly the Reichsadler or "Imperial Eagle". It is a re-introduction of the coat of arms of the Weimar Republic (in use 1919–1935) adopted by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1950. The current official design is due to Tobias Schwab (1887–1967) and was introduced in 1928.

The German Empire of 1871–1918 had re-introduced the medieval coat of arms of the Holy Roman Emperors, in use during the 13th and 14th centuries (a black single-headed eagle on a golden background), before the emperors adopted the double-headed eagle, beginning with Sigismund of Luxemburg in 1433. The single-headed Prussian Eagle was used as an escutcheon to represent the Prussian Kings as dynasts of the German Empire. The Weimar Republic introduced a version in which the escutcheon and other monarchical symbols were removed.

BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND
1983
D
2 DEUTSCHE MARK

Reverse

Portrait of Kurt Schumacher. Dates 1949-1979 represent the 30th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Kurt Ernst Carl Schumacher (1895–1952) was a German social democratic politician, who served as chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and was the first Leader of the Opposition in the West German Bundestag from 1949 until his death. An opponent of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's government, but an even stronger opponent of the East German Socialist Unity Party and communism in general, he was one of the founding fathers of post-war German democracy. He was also a noted opponent of the far-right and the far-left, i.e. the Nazi Party and the Communist Party of Germany, during the Weimar Republic, and is famous for his description of the communists as "red-painted Nazis." He spent over ten years in Nazi concentration camps, where he was severely mistreated.

Engraver: Hans-Joachim Dobler

·BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND·
1949 1979

Edge

The "Deutschlandlied" (English: "Song of Germany") has been the national anthem of Germany since 1922. Since World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, only the third stanza has been used as the national anthem. The stanza's beginning, "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit" ("Unity and Justice and Freedom") is considered the unofficial national motto of Germany, and is inscribed on modern German Army belt buckles and the rims of some German coins.

EINIGKEIT UND RECHT UND FREIHEIT

2 Deutsche Mark

KM# 149 Jaeger# 424 Schön# 148
Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Circulating)
Material Cupronickel
Weight 7 g
Diameter 26.75 mm
Thickness 1.79 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mints
Bavarian Central Mint (D)
Berlin State Mint (A)
Hamburg Mint (J)
Karlsruhe State Mint (G)
Stuttgart State Mint (F)

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