A.E.I.O.U
Full of contradictions, the Austrian eagle, symblyzing the Coat of Arms of Austria, has a crown, and takes a hammer and a sickle.
At first glaze, too many questions and answers suddently occure. Here were my propositions:
The crown means a royal state; that certainly means it has been set since the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Sickle and hammer, it might have been imposed by the “Liberator”, the USSR.
Well, there are chains, means a liberation from communism?
A reliable answer can only be found at The Free Encyclopaedia. I looked for the answer and I got this . Now everyhing is clear:
The Coat of Arms of Austria has been used since the end of World War I to symbolize Austria. The double headed eagle, symbolizing the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was replaced with a single headed eagle.
On the chest of the eagle is located the old shield of the Duchy of Austria, this same design forms the basis for the flag of Austria. The eagle’s claws hold a golden sickle and a golden hammer. While at first sight this might lead to an association with communist symbols the golden mural crown on the head of the eagle makes it clear, that these three merely represent the unity of the three “classes” (workers, peasants and bourgeoisie) in the republic - not quite class war.
The broken iron chain between the two claws indicates liberation from fascism and was added after World War II.
By the way, AEIOU was Austria’s slogan, which means
- Austria est imperio optime unita
- Austria erit in orbe ultima - “Austria will be forever”
- Austriae est imperare orbi universo - “It is Austria’s destiny to rule the world”
- Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan - (16th/17th century) “The world is subject of Austria’s rule” Both these versions refer not to the small Austria of today, but the huge Habsburg empire where “the sun did not set”.
In 1951, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy suggested the interpretation: Austria Europae Imago, Onus, Unio - “Austria is Europe’s spitting image, burden and unification”.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.E.I.O.U.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Austria
