Help with award document for a legation secretary

[Great Dane]

Greetings all,

I recently purchased a box of awards and documents to the same guy (will post more about this later).

Among the various documents I found the one below, but I don't know what he was awarded...!

My translation goes like this:

In Anerkennung Ihrer hervorragenden

Verdienste um die deutschen Kriegs- und Zivil-Gefangenen

lasse ich Ihnen beifolgend eine

Denkm?nze

zugehen als ?usseres Zeichen der tiefempfundenen

Dankbarkeit f?r die aufopfernde Liebest?tigkeit,

die in der Erinnerung das deutschen Volkes unverg?ng-

lich fortleben wird

Berlin, den 7. Mai 1921

Der Reichspr?sident

and in the lower right corner:

?ber den rechtm?ssigen Besitz der

Denkm?nze ist diese Urkunde erteilt.

Berlin, den 20. September 1921

Der Reichskommissar

f?r Zivilgefangene und Fl?chtlinge.

So what exactly is this 'Denkm?nze'?

Does anyone have a picture?

In the accompanying letter (in Danish) it is referred to as a 'commemorative medal'...

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Guest Rick Research]

I have no idea!!!

That appears to have been actually autographed by Reichspr?sident Friedrich Ebert, so this was SOMETHING considered a national award...

when there were no national awards!!!!!

Got anything more to identify Legationssekret?r Schon?

[Great Dane]

Peter Christian Schou was legation secretary in Petrograd from 1915 and in Washington from 1918. Then Danish general consul in Montreal from 1921, in Moscow from 1924, in Ankara and Athens from 1931, in Warsaw and Prague from 1934.

He had to leave Poland after the German invasion and joined the Danish resistance group 'The Free Danes' as a protest against the collaboration policy by the Danish government.

This is his list of awards (unfortunately not all awards or documents were in the box):

• Denmark, Order of Dannebrog (Commander)
• Denmark, Order of Dannebrog (Silver Merit Cross)
• Poland, Order of Polonia Restituta (grand Cross)
• Greece, Order of Phoenix (Grand Cross)
• Romania, Order of the Crown (Commander)
• Austria, Frantz Joseph Order (Commander)
• Austria, Red Cross Order (Offiziersehrenkreuz)
• Mecklenburg, Order of the Griffin (Knight w. crown)
• Japan, Order of the Rising Sun (Knight 1.class)
• Russia, Order of St. Anne (Knight)
• Denmark, Red Cross Medal for aiding prisoners of war 1914-19
• Turkey, Red Crescent medal (silver w. oakleaf)
• Prussia, Red Cross Medal (2. class)
• Prussia, Red Cross Medal (3. class)
• German 'denkm?nze'

The 2 Prussian Red Cross medals were awarded on the same day, but he only wore the 2. class on his mounted bar. Interestingly, the Russian St. Anne knight cross was never mounted on the bar either...

/Mike