The Iron Cross was last awarded in WW2. It is only instituted in wartime when the actual security of Germany is threatened. Hence there are the 1813, 1870 1914 & 1939 versions of the Iron Cross. There is also the 1957 version which replaced the 1939 Iron Cross so that WW2 veterans could wear their awards without breaking the German Law and showing the swastika. These crosses were only replacements to those that were awarded the WW2 Iron Cross series. If there was ever another situation in which Germany was directly threatened by invasion, technically the Iron Cross could be reinstituted, but it cannot be awarded in peacetime. As to whether future German Governments would ever do that even in time of war, is debateable, due to the demilitarisation of German society since WW2.