When Germany laid in ashes, there was a need for new symbols indicating a fresh start. The mighty oak tree shrank to a little oak sprig held in her hands by a pregnant woman.

After the Allied victory of 1945, Germany was reduced to rubble.

The aerial bombardment by the enemy had almost completely destroyed all the larger German cities. Operation Gomorrah had claimed the lives of approximately 35,000 residents of Hamburg. In Pforzheim a third of the 65,000 residents died within 22 minutes. Overall, there were about half a million civilian deaths. And many more people were injured or made homeless.

The bombing, defeat and subsequent occupation had completely changed the self-image of an entire people. Where the Nazis had propagated the image of the German Übermensch, the humiliated losers felt only hunger, cold, and fear.

All the hope flourishing in Germany at that time was distilled in this small coin; the German 50 pfennig piece. Sculptor Richard Martin Werner provided the design. He used his then pregnant wife as a model. She is kneeling, and her clothing is reminiscent of the countless “Trümmerfrauen” who cleared Germany of rubble. However, the kneeling woman holds in her hand not a brick, but a small oak sapling with roots. A tiny little oak that she plants firmly in the earth, trusting in a new beginning.