Gisela Pekrul, Ernst Franta: Historic trade emblems
2. completely revised edition
EDITION digital®
Pekrul & Sohn GbR
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Foreword
In 1937 the Conference of German cities called for "general" proposals for designs for trade emblems for the craftsman branches of the trades entered in the trades register at that time. Fifty-two official trade emblems were put forward and published in 1938.
The "General Trade Emblems", symbolising membership of a trade, played a significant role.
The craftsman trade associations have been embraced by the framework of the Organisation of German Trades since the 80s. They use the general trade emblems as well as their own professional emblems which have partly historic origins.
It was already under debate in 1938/39 in the conferences for cities and communities, when the new trade emblems were almost ready, as to whether a return to the old guild emblems rather than introducing the new trade emblems might be preferable since the former offered stronger, more graphic symbols for the trades in question.
As an indication of how current these emblems are, 86 of the 126 craftsman trades still use them today.