DDR Treptower Plaque

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

My latest addition to the DDR collection:

http://www.geocities.com/isanders_2000/treptower.htm

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Treptower_Park

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_War_Me...Treptower_Park)

If Kim and I ever get over there it's definitely one place I'd like to visit.

Dan :cheers:

[Christophe]

Hi Dan,

Nice one. Do you have more detail about it ? Where it comes from ? Any writing some where ? etc...

Cheers.

Ch.

[Hauptmann]

Hi Dan,

Nice one. Do you have more detail about it ? Where it comes from ? Any writing some where ? etc...

Cheers.

Ch.

Hi Christophe,

Many thanks! Actually I wish I had more info on them. I also posted here:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=8727...200#entry320442

Hoping Gordon will pop on with more info once he's back and can dig his example and the WAF link out. I'm not a WAF member so can't do searches, see pics or anything else.

But as mentioned in the other post there is a silver grade so assuming there's a gold as well... although I've never seen any but the bronze like mine... and they've all been without cases. No idea till Gordon comes back (or other members comment ) as to whether the cases for the different grades were the same or not or any other details. What you see is what I know for now. And it'll probably be upwards of a couple of weeks before it arrives from France although I hope luck is with me and it's a bit quicker.

But hoping we can learn more about these.

Dan :cheers:

[Hauptmann]

A bit more info from the auction:

1. COUNTRY of ORIGIN : East Germany (DDR)

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2. CONTEXT : Medal Plaque commemorating a Soviet soldier saving a small German girl (see below for more details)

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3. ENGRAVER : no attribution

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4. COMPOSITION : appears to be Bronze, but may be a less expensive ?bronzed? metal ? no markings

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5. MINTMARK(S) : none

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6. CONDITION : Excellent

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7. DIMENSIONS : 94 mm x 40 mm

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8. WIDTH : 3.75 mm

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9. WEIGHT : 102 grams. With Presentation Box 240 grams.

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10. COMMENTS : The Soviet War Memorial (sometimes translated as the Soviet Cenotaph), is a vast war memorial and military cemetery in Berlin's Treptower Park. It was built to the design of the Soviet architect Yakov Belopolsky to commemorate 5,000 of the 80,000 Soviet soldiers who fell in the Battle of Berlin in April-May 1945. It opened four years after the war ended on 8 May 1949, and served as the central war memorial of East Germany.

The focus of the ensemble is a monument by Soviet sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich: a 12-m tall monument of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a child, standing over a broken swastika. Vuchetich's inspiration for the monument was Soviet soldier Nikolai Masalov (1922-2004), who on 30 April 1945 found a German girl wandering near Potsdamer Platz during the Battle of Berlin and brought her to safety. Despite rumors that this episode was Soviet propaganda, owing to a journalist use of a different name for the girl's rescuer, officially confirmed documents exist that substantiate at least five cases of Russian soldiers delivering small German children to orphanages during the Battle of Berlin. The base of the statue contains a small room lined in mosaics, in which wreaths are usually laid.

Dan

[Gordon Craig]

Dan,

I found my plaque with relative ease. I have started to pack things in preparation for our return to North America this coming July and I am not inventorying where they go. Too much work in that. First thing I unwrapped in the first box I opened was this plaque.

They were an unofficial plaque created to commemorate the 40th year of the SED. My case is different than yours in that it is a black simulated leather cover. Same on an all sides. I have a number of non-portable awards where the silver class is black with some sort of design on the covering of the case. There is a card describing what the award commemorates glued to the inside top of my case. I do not know if there is a gold class for this award. The most commonly seen one is the silver class.

Regards,

Gordon

Lest start with the top of the closed case.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Document on the inner surface of the top of the case.

[Gordon Craig]

The silver plaque.

[Christophe]

Thanks Dan and Gordon for showing these plaques and their "history".

Cheers.

Ch.