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Rearmament intensified the dilemmas faced by the Federal Republic in its treatment of patriotic symbols and traditions. After much debate, for example, the young Republic had decided to retain the traditional national anthem but to ban any singing of the first verse, which had proclaimed that Germany should stand above everything else. In 1957 the government decided to allow the wearing of medals awarded under the Third Reich, as long as distinctively Nazi symbols were removed.

The "German Cross" was created by Hitler in 1941 and originally featured a swastika. Here it has been restored to respectability with the Iron Cross, the Prussian monarchy's traditional symbol of martial valor.