From Alsace to Malice

I was on my way to France for dinner recently (not as awful as it sounds), and came across this architectural curiosity. It marks the entrance to the "German Wine Route", the magical border crossing where Alsatian wine becomes Rheinpfalz wine. The warm, welcoming design of the gateway is garnished, if you're traveling eastward into the Daddyland, by that friendly-looking eagle on the top of the reich, er, right column. And say, what's that wreathed insignia it's clutching in its claw? Looks like someone tried to erase it or something. Like, with a machine gun.