Civil Service - Treuedienst Ehrenzeichen.

[ChrisKelly]

Let's start with the original regulations from 1938, when the awards were established:

 

 

One man's civil service time calculations [although he did not qualify for one of these awsrds prior to 1945]:

 

 

An award ceremony:

 

Edited November 17 by ChrisKelly

[ChrisKelly]

 

Examples of the award, including mounted medals, some outside the regulations:

 

 

 

Some additional information, images and documents, and an "inside look" at one of the medals:

 

 

[ChrisKelly]

 

 

 

 

[ChrisKelly]

Miniatures were available as ribbon bar devices, stickpins, and miniature medals.  Variations in style and size, depending on the manufacturer:

 

This medal has been reproduced!  An example, presumably made in China, on the right in the images, alongside two genuine specimens.  The suspension ring is welded shut, unlike the originals, and is hallmarked "14", for Steinhauer & Lück of Lüdenscheid.

Below are images of reproduction ribbon bars I made.  Nice combination of ribbon styles.  All that's original is the device on the ribbon on the right side of the bar.  The bottom two images show a genuine bar, awarded to a First World War combatant, made in the mid-1930s.

[ChrisKelly]

The civil service crosses were re-issued in denazified form, in accordance with the Ordengesetz, of 26 July 1957.  Below is an early Steinhauer & Lück example, manufactured in the late 1950s-early 1960s.  These awards were produced until the late 1980s-early 1990s. Steinhauer & Lück was founded in 1889, and is still in business today.

 

Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordensgesetz

 

Edited November 19 by ChrisKelly

[ChrisKelly]

On a personal note, I do not own any examples of the 40 year and 50 year crosses.  With 1.8 million members of the Reichsbund der Deutsche Beamten by 1942, 25 year crosses are common, and can be purchased for roughly $40USD-$50USD.  The 40 year crosses are scarce, and 50 year crosses are rare, and expensive.

 

The first Third Reich medal I owned was a 25 year civil service cross given to me by a railroad worker's widow.  His name was Seebert Lawrence and he worked for a railroad in Virginia, USA, and he obtained this medal from one of his co-workers.  I've probably been in possession of it for forty-five years. This is it, below.

 

Source:

https://gmic.co.uk/topic/79238-rdb-collection-by-gefreiter-otto/

 

[ChrisKelly]

 

Source:

https://www.germanmilitaria.com/Political/photos/N017691.html

 

 

Source:

https://www.germanmilitaria.com/Political/photos/N035089.html

 

 

Source:

https://www.germanmilitaria.com/Political/photos/N026290.html

 

Edited November 19 by ChrisKelly

[ChrisKelly]

Explanatory Addenda:

 

Civil service crosses were awarded for 25 and 40 years.  They're generally indicated on award certificates as "(in) silver" or "(in) gold" as opposed to "second class", "first class", etc.  The "special class", awarded for 50 years, was actually a labor award, not a civil service award.

 

Time was counted one-for-one.  There was no "double service credit" for wartime or military service, such as the situation with many of the German states' long service awards during the First World War, or the "Kampfzeit", in reference to the NSDAP service crosses.  While military service did count, as it is government service, the recipient had to be employed in a civil service job, national, state or local, on the appropriate anniversary (25 or 40 years). 

 

To my knowledge, these crosses, unlike their military counterparts, were awarded until the last months, or even weeks, of the war.  One acquaintance of mine claimed to have once been in possession of an award document for the silver 25 year cross dated September 1944. Additionally, I see no evidence that the metallurgy changed between 1938 and 1944...  I have never seen one produced in zinc.

[ChrisKelly]

An interesting set of documents I acquired. 

 

The document on the right is a church membership registration, as the citizens of Kleve were subject to church tax. Heinrich Benfer was born on 23 March 1894, making him almost 50 years old on 9 February 1944, when he joined the Lutheran Church [Evangelischenkirche].  The document itself was executed, registered and filed on 14 March 1944.

 

Benfer's 25 year civil service cross in silver was awarded on 13 November 1939, when he was 45 years old.  

 

Likely, he was a veteran of the First World War, in some capacity, probably military, and his war service counted towards his civil service credit.  He had to have started government service at the latest, at 20 years of age in 1914.

 

Obertelegraphensekretär translates to senior telegraph secretary, A relatively low-ranking civil service position.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by ChrisKelly

[ChrisKelly]

From:

 

https://germanrings.lv/en/28-political-and-civil