Germany. Latest €10 Polymer Frontline Services Coin Continues With Salute to Technical Relief

As part of the series entitled In the Service of Society, the first coin highlighted the work and department of After Care in 2022. The next coin focused on the Fire Brigade in 2023 and the Police in 2024. For 2025, the latest coin focuses on Germany’s Technical Relief Agency. This special group of people are indispensable for those affected natural disasters and to provide technical & logistical assistance in emergencies and accidents to protect the population. Founded on the 22nd August 1950 as a civilian law enforcement agency, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, Technisches Hilfswerk - THW now looks back on a history spanning 75 years.

In 1953, the THW became a federal agency and operates under the authority of the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Since then, the agency has followed its primary statutory mandate to provide assistance during natural and man-made disasters and where possible, local hazard prevention. The THW's structure is unique worldwide as only 2% of its more than 90,000 members are employed full-time with 98% or, around 88,000 people being volunteers. Headquartered in Bonn, there are eight state associations, 66 regional offices, and 668 local associations where volunteers are part of everyday life. Whether during the storm surge in Hamburg in 1962, the mining disaster in Lengede in 1963 or the once-in-a-century floods on the Oder and Elbe rivers in 2002, the THW is deployed everywhere in the country, providing valuable assistance. The largest deployment to date took place in 2021 when All 668 local branches were involved in clearing roads, building bridges, securing houses, and caring for local people following the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley and other parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia.

The THW is also repeatedly active abroad, following droughts, civil wars, and earthquakes in Africa, Europe, and South America, the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, Hurricane Katrina in the USA in 2005, or the deadly earthquake in Haiti in 2010. More recently and in 2022, the focus of operations was on providing assistance to Ukraine, at home by setting up emergency shelters for refugees, and abroad by transporting relief supplies. In total, the volunteers completed over one million hours of deployment and more than 240,000 hours of training. The THW is a prime example of how important volunteer work is for society and the positive impact it brings.

Designed by Berlin artist Lorenz Crössmann, his focus on the obverse side highlights a vivid depiction of the human and professional aspects of the work of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), such as search and rescue of the injured, flood protection, and a typical emergency situation involving heavy equipment. The agency’s activities are grouped around the central THW logo and are enclosed by a polymer ring in the characteristic THW blue. Above the primary design and along the upper rim is the text TECHNISCHES HILFSWERK. The vivid composition of image elements, logo, and typography perfectly complements perfectly with all four coins in the series. The reverse side which is common to all coins in the series is designed by Patrick Niesel from Röthenbach and includes common elements such as a depiction of a stylised eagle centred with the issuer BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND placed directly above on the outer ring and along the edge. Just under the eagle is the year of issue, 2025. The denomination 10 EURO placed along the lower rim on the outer ring. Incorporated into the design are six five-pointed stars on each side totalling twelve and which represent the European Union. A mintmark is shown just above the eagle with all five national mints represented with: Berlin (A), Munich (D), Stuttgart (F), Karlsruhe (G) and Hamburg (J).  Each coin includes incused edge lettering that reads IM DIENST DER GESELLSCHAFT • (in the service of society)   

The coins are available from the 24^th April, each coin is encapsulated and presented in a card folder including informative text and illustrations. For additional information, please visit the e-webshop of Munze Deutschland.