The emblem adopted in 1955 depicted a hammer and compass surrounded by ears of wheat wrapped in the colours of the German flag.

The first designs included only the hammer and ring of wheat, as an expression of the GDR as a communist Arbeiter-und-Bauern-Staat [de] (German for "Workers' and Farmers' state").

One of the projects of the coat of arms from November 1949 a variation of the German eagle with its head facing to the sinister side heraldically, encircled by the words "DEUTSCHE DEMOKRATISCHE REPUBLIK".

[4][5] Nevertheless, many of the elements in Behrendt's proposal such as the German tricolour ribbons and the hammer were eventually used in the emblem and its subsequent versions.

[6] On 12 January 1950, a regulation on diplomatic and official passports essentially marked the adoption of the first version of the national emblem.

Although the law did not define it as the national emblem, the symbol took on the role of one, appearing hung on the wall during the first meeting of the Volkskammer later that year.

Several years later, a decree creating the seal of the GDR featuring an emblem designed by Heinz Behling [de] was enacted on 28 May 1953.

[11] This emblem showed a more detailed drawing of the two ears of wheat wrapped around by ribbons patterned on the German tricolour, with a hammer and a compass inside the wreath.

On 31 May 1990, the newly elected Volkskammer decided, at a suggestion from the conservative German Social Union party, that all images of the national emblem on public buildings would be removed or covered.