Gott mit uns

('God swith us') is a phrase commonly used in heraldry in Prussia (from 1701) and later by the German military during the periods spanning the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945) and until the 1970s on the belt buckles of the West German police forces.

Origins

Matthew 1:23 refers to the prophecy written in Isaiah 7:14, glossing the name Immanuel (Emmanuel, ) as 'God with us':

Usage

Roman Empire

in Latin, () in Ancient Greek, was a battle cry of the later Roman Empire and of the Byzantine Empire.

Germany

It was used for the first time in Germany by the Teutonic Order.

In the 17th century, the phrase was used as a 'field word', a means of recognition akin to a password, by the army of Gustavus Adolphus at the battles of Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), Breitenfeld, Lützen and Wittstock in the Thirty Years' War.

In 1701, Frederick I of Prussia changed his coat of arms as Prince-Elector of Brandenburg. The electoral scepter had its own shield under the electoral cap. Below, the motto appeared on the pedestal.
The Prussian Order of the Crown was Prussia's lowest ranking order of chivalry, and was instituted in 1861. The obverse gilt central disc bore the crown of Prussia, surrounded by a blue enamel ring bearing the motto of the German Empire .

At the time of the completion of German unification in 1871, the imperial standard bore the motto on the arms of an Iron Cross. Imperial German 3 and 5 mark silver and 20 mark gold coins had inscribed on their edge.

German soldiers had inscribed on their belt buckles in the First World War. The slogan entered the mindset on both sides; in 1916 a cartoon was printed in the '' New-York Tribune'' captioned "Gott Mit Uns!", showing "a German officer in spiked helmet holding a smoking revolver as he stood over the bleeding form of a nurse. It symbolized the rising popular demand that the United States shed its neutrality".

In June 1920, George Grosz produced a lithographic collection in three editions entitled . A satire on German society and the counter-revolution, the collection was swiftly banned. Grosz was charged with insulting the , which resulted in a 300 fine and the destruction of the collection.

During the Second World War, Nazi Germany's soldiers wore this slogan on their belt buckles. as opposed to members of the , who wore the motto ('My honour is loyalty'). After the war, the abandoned the motto ''Gott mit uns'', but the West German police continued to use it until the 1970s. For ideological reasons, this motto was not used in East Germany, whose armed forces, the did not, however, shy away from Prussian military traditions.

Since 1962, the soldiers wear on their belt buckles the motto ('Unity and Justice and Freedom'), which is the first line of the third stanza of the West German national anthem, the only one actually sung (now the only stanza of the national anthem of unified Germany).

Gallery

File:Greater Coat of Arms of Prussia (1709-1871).svg, Coat of arms of Frederick I of Prussia
File:Kroonorde van Pruissen Grootofficier.jpg, Prussian Order of the Crown
File:Wappen Deutsches Reich - Wappen des Kaisers mit Helmkleinod.svg, German arms of 1871 (note banners)
File:Bigger Coat of arms of Prussia 1933.svg, Coat of arms of the State of Prussia (1933–1935)
File:WW I Prussian enlisted man's belt buckle front.JPG, World War I Prussian enlisted belt buckle
File:WW II German GOTT MIT UNS Buckle (Wehrmacht).jpg, World War II belt buckle

See also

*In God We Trust
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* Takbir

References

External links

"Gott mit Uns"
''Time''. September 18, 1944.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gott Mit Uns
Battle cries
German words and phrases
House of Hohenzollern
National mottos
Quotations from religion
Frederick I of Prussia