A guy at the dealership showed me how to do this.  The round VW emblem is held in by three plastic tab/clip extensions with a slight hook edge at the end to hold it into the big hole.  They are located on the side of the emblem at "12 o'clock", "4 o'clock" and "8 o'clock", if you think of the clock face analogy.  I used a very small and thin computer tweaking screwdriver to slide down beside the emblem and gently push towards the center on the tabs to release each one of these clips.  The process involved working around the three tabs in the circle little by little until the emblem came out.  I did experience a tiny bit of scratching around the hole the emblem fits into.  The plastic seemed to be resilient enough as I worked it out, I wasn't too fearful of braking the tabs.  Once out, you'll see that the "chrome" plastic is fitted on a black plastic backing which is the majority of the assembly.  I tried to remove just the chrome part but gave up and painted the whole thing.  First, I used some very fine sand paper to roughen the "chrome" surface (it's really plastic) before painting.  I then taped the assembly down to some newspaper, used an all purpose primer followed by flat black spray paint.  Multiple thin light coats seemed to work best.  After it dried about 4 hours, I snapped the emblem back in place, it's easy going back in. 

  Some lessons learned:

  1. I used an all-purpose enamel spray paint but maybe an epoxy paint would give a harder finish

  2. I didn't sand the chrome surface nearly enough, the 600 grit I used was just too fine.  This probably contributes to the chipping tendency.  I should have started with 300 or 400 grit and really knocked the shiny surface off.  The primer didn't stick very well because the surface was still way too slick.  I've had to touch up by spraying the paint on a Q-tip & spot painting.  I should have sanded all the way down to bare plastic taking all the "chrome" finish off.  I'm considering ordering another emblem from the dealer and really doing it right, I think it's only around $20 for a second chance!

  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I also have little info someone gave me about the rear VW emblem, this is copied from an e-mail I got:

  "As for the rear VW emblem. It is actually three piece assembly. It consists of the chrome VW, which is glued by two points to a round gray colored background, around which the rubber seal is inserted. The whole assembly is attached to the trunk lid by two side sticky tape. I heated the emblem with hair dryer, and slowly applied pressure side to side until it loosened up. Then I inserted a string behind the emblem and worked it out. I actually screwed the removal up, because I inserted the string behind the VW logo, and when I pulled, it came away from the gray background, but it turned out OK, because you can glue it back on the two points that holds it together (the painting was better, because the color is now on all the surfaces). There is approx. 1/8" indent in the trunk lid, and it does not look very good without  the badge. But when you paint the badge the color of your car, it looks a lot better, because from distance the trunk looks less crowded. It's just my opinion. To attach the badge back on the lid, I went to local Home Base, and bought 3M double sided tape which they had in the paint section."