The history of the coat of arms begins when Herne was granted its town charter. Over the years, there have been five coats of arms in all, partly as a result of the amalgamation of the two towns Herne and Wanne-Eickel on January 1, 1975. Since that day, only one coat of arms is official, the miner’s hammer and chisel on a yellow background.
Herne’s Coat of Arms from 1900 to 1937
With the granting of a town charter on April 1, 1897, Herne was given the right to bear a coat of arms. In the year 1899 the town magistrate proposed the introduction of a coat of arms and the formation of a committee to design it. The mayor of the time, Hermann Schaefer, wanted the coat of arms to include a large number of symbolic elements. In April 1900 the town council decided that these should be as follows:
A red hill in three sections (reference to "heri", "haar" = hill and at the same time reference to Westphalia, the land of red earth):
1. The miner’s tools (hammer and chisel as symbols of coal mining, plus a green, three-leafed clover symbolizing the first colliery in Herne, Shamrock colliery);
2. an oak tree growing on the hill (symbolic of Westphalian strength, endurance and being rooted in the soil), and
3. a crest resting on a shield (the crest was mandatory for all Prussian coats of arms).
The coat of arms was designed by Berlin heraldry specialist Professor Hildebrand and was approved on July 30, 1900 by the King of Prussia. Magistrate and town council determined the town colours "green-white-red" in February 1915.
Herne’s Coat of Arms from 1937 to 1974
In 1937 the coat of arms was redesigned in accordance with new heraldic principles. The main elements were preserved, but the crest was abandoned. The new coat of arms was created by Professor Otto Hupp of Schleißheim near Munich. It continued to reflect the significance of the mining industry, which had driven the development from village to town.
Wanne-Eickel’s Coat of Arms up to 1974
A decree issued by the Prussian State Ministry on June 14, 1919 entitled Wanne-Eickel to bear a coat of arms.
This shows a black, prancing wild horse and the shield of the ancient noble family of Eickel (red diagonal band on a white background with three golden lozenges). The wild horse is a reference to the ancient tradition of breeding wild horses in Emscherbruch, the centre of which is in the Wanne suburb of Crange.
The so-called "Emscherbrücher" or "Emscherbrücher Dickkopp" was a domestic horse that lived in the wild. First documentary evidence of its existence is in 1396. It was quite common up to the beginning of the 19th century in the Emscher basin. The last Emscherbruch horses were rounded up in the 1849s and sold to the Duke of Croy in Dülmen. The horse measured up to 135 cm and weighed up to 300 kg. Like all domestic horses, they had short ears, horny patches on all four legs, and a tail covered in long hairs.
Evidence of Eickel Coat of Arms in 1275
The coat of arms of the ancient family of Eickel can be t raced back to 1275. The knights of Eickel lived not only in Eickel but also in Bickern, which later became Wanne, and in Crange. They also owned extensive estates in the parishes of Holsterhausen and Röhlinghausen.
The coat of arms of the town of Wanne-Eickel, therefore, symbolizes that the parishes now amalgamated in Wanne-Eickel have a shared history.
Herne’s Coat of Arms since January 1, 1975
The coat of arms shows a black prancing horse on a yellow field, with miner’s hammer and chisel in black crossed on the upper left-hand side.
The coat of arms is a simplified combination of the one which was granted to the town of Wanne-Eickel on June 14, 1929 and the coat of arms which was granted to the town of Herne on July 30, 1900. The black prancing horse (Wanne-Eickel) symbolizes the wild horses that once roamed the Emscher basin; the mining symbols (hammer and chisel, Herne) are symbolic of the mining tradition.
The city’s colours are "yellow-black-yellow".
Coats of arms are protected by civil law and may be used only by the city council.
