Wolfsangel (German pronunciation: [ˈvɔlfsˌʔaŋəl] ^ⓘ, translation: "wolf's hook") or Crampon (French pronunciation: [kʁɑ̃pɔ̃] ^ⓘ), also known as Spastika (following Pelevin's novels) is a heraldic charge from mainly Germany and eastern France, which was inspired by medieval European wolf traps that consisted of a Z-shaped metal hook (called the Wolfsangel, or the crampon in French) that was hung by a chain from a crescent-shaped metal bar (called the Wolfsanker, or the hameçon in French). The stylized symbol of the Z-shape (also called the Doppelhaken, meaning the "double-hook") can include a central horizontal bar to give a Ƶ-symbol, which can be reversed and/or rotated; it is sometimes mistaken as being an ancient rune due to its similarity to the "gibor rune" of the pseudo Armanen runes.

It became an early symbol of German liberty and independence after its adoption as an emblem in various 15th-century peasant revolts, and also in the 17th-century Thirty Years' War. In pre-war Germany, interest in the Wolfsangel was revived by the popularity of Hermann Löns's 1910 novel Der Wehrwolf, which follows a hero in the Thirty Years' War. The Ƶ-symbol was later adopted by the Nazi Party, and was used by various German Wehrmacht and SS units such as the Waffen-SS Division Das Reich and the Waffen-SS Division Landstorm Nederland. The Anti-Defamation League, and others, list the Ƶ-symbol as a hate and a neo-Nazi symbol.

The Wolfsangel was a medieval European wolf hunting tool where the hook was concealed inside a chunk of meat that would impale any unsuspecting wolf gulping the meat in one movement.

The tool was developed by attaching the hook via a chain or rope to a larger bar (often with a double crescent or half-moon shape per photo opposite) lodged between the overhanging branches of a tree. This would encourage the wolf to jump up to gulp the hanging chunk of meat (with the hook concealed inside), thus further impaling itself in the manner of a fish caught on a fishing hook.

Medieval hunters were known to use "blood trails" to lead the wolf to the Wolfsangel trap and also used wattle fencing nearer to the trap to create narrow channels that would guide the wolf to the trap.

Other German names include Wolfsanker ("wolf anchor", the crescent-shaped bar holding the hook), Wolfshaken ("wolf hook"), and Doppelhaken ("double hook"); French names include hameçon ("fish hook"), hameçon de loup ("fish hook for wolves") and fer-a-loup ("wolf iron"), as well as crampon ("iron hook").

The stylised version of the Z-shaped Wolfsangel developed into a popular medieval symbol in Germany that was associated with magical powers, and was believed to have the ability to ward off wolves. The symbol appears on early medieval banners and town seals in Germany (particularly in forested regions where wolves were present in large numbers); for example, as early as 1299 the symbol is found on seals of the Lords of the German Black Forest town of Wolfach (see opposite, the seal of the widow Countess Udilhild von Fürstenberg [de], the sole heiress of the Lords of Wolfach); and their Wolfsangel banner became the municipal coat of arms for the town (see opposite). The symbol can be found as a medieval mason's mark.

The stylized Wolfsangel Z-symbol (i.e. excluding the horizontal bar) bears a visual resemblance to the proto-Germanic Eihwaz rune (meaning "yew"), historically part of the ancient runic alphabet. However, the full Wolfsangel Ƶ-symbol has no equivalent amongst ancient runic systems but is sometimes confused as such due to its similarity to the "gibor rune", the eighteenth pseudo rune that was created by the nineteenth-century German revivalist Guido von List as part of his Armanen runes.