DDR My DDR awards

[Hauptmann]

From Flags of the World.

Hi all,

Finally got around to resizing all the photos I took for this about two weeks ago.

First off, some pieces in a riker mount:

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Then a pic I did a while back showing some of my cased DDR awards as a group:

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Edited April 16, 2007 by Hauptman

[Hauptmann]

Now to get into a bit more detail. I'll start off with my awards for the Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse. My understanding is these were civilians who did training with the regular armed forces of the DDR... kind of like a reserve force who in time of war would be called up to supplement the main forces.

First off... the medal. I hope to get the document in the future:

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Then the 10 year medal in bronze with document. It has the folder but I'll show an example of that a bit later... All the ones I have are the same with the exception that one of my 25 year awards folders and Urkundes is larger than the other.

First the Urkunde:

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The a closeup of the image of the award:

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And a closeup of the Urkunde:

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Edited May 29, 2006 by Hauptman

[Hauptmann]

And the award itself... cased:

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[Hauptmann]

Now for the 15 year in silver. First the full Urkunde:

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The closeup of the image of the award:

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A closeup of the Urkunde:

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And of the actual cased award:

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[Hauptmann]

Now for the 20 year in gold. For now I only have the cased award but hope to get the documents sometime in the future:

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[Hauptmann]

And now for my 25 year awards. Again I have two sets of these. I'll show one document set, then the other and finally the awards. I'll start with the larger of the two sets:

First the folder:

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The inside page:

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The full Urkunde:

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A closeup of the award illustration:

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A closeup of the Urkunde:

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And finially the printed area on the end page:

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[Hauptmann]

And now the smaller of the two sets.

The folder:

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The full Urkunde:

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Closeup of the award illustration:

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Closeup of the Urkunde:

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The end page:

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[Hauptmann]

And the 25 year awards cased:

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Note that the left example does have a lighter shade of gold as well as a lighter shade of the gold on the ribbons and the device than does the example on the right. Could be a manufacturer variation or simply a later version of the one on the right.

[Hauptmann]

I have one other DDR award with the Urkunde set. It's for the ten year Kampfgruppen Service medal. I've also seen this referred to as the "Brandenburg Gate" medal.

First the full Urkunde:

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The closeup of the award illustration:

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Closeup of the Urkunde:

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The cased award:

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And my full group of these medals from the riker mount display. I hope to someday have document sets for the full group.

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[Hauptmann]

Next up are my Service Medals of the National Peoples Army. For some reason these are my favorite DDR medals. The first time I saw one was in, funny enough my first Soviet awards reference... Russian And Soviet Military Awards by V.A. Durov. Pictured on page 102 is a silver version of one of these medals. At the time, many years ago, I didn't even know for sure if it was only issued in silver or if it followed the traditional bronze, silver and gold pattern for most German awards. Needless to say I'm quite happy that it did.

I don't know why but I just feel this is one of the best designed of the DDR awards. I've completed one set and am working on the second. I still need another complete silver set and a ribbon for the extra bronze.

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I'd like to point out that there are several variations both of the awards themselves as well as their Urkunden which also come in several styles. I've even seen an example that was awarded to a Kollectiv. It's very impressive with the Urkunde itself on the left hand side and the actual medal mounted on the right inside a cassette not unlike those used for Knight's Crosses during the Third Reich albeit far less elaborate than those.

There are medals that have serial numbers located at the top of the wreath on the reverse.

There are medals which have a silver content of 900 marked at the base of the wreath on the reverse. There are at least five variations with the number placed below the wreath stems and one which has it placed above the wreath stems.

There are also at least two varieties of the wording on the reverse... one having hyphens on either side of the UND.

And there are at least two varieties in the smaller wreaths on the state seal surrounding the compass... one being a more open design.

And as if this was not enough for one medal... there are at least two varieties of the obverse. One has a dot on either side between the words at the top "Fur Hervorragende Verdienste" and the words at the bottom "Nationale Volksarmee"... the other version has no dots.

There are at least five variations of the Urkunden plus the one for Kollectiv awards.

What more can a collector ask for?

[Hauptmann]

And each individual medal.

The Gold:

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The Silver:

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The Bronze:

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I hope to someday add some of the variations and especially the serial numbered examples. I also would love to obtain some document sets, preferably issued, and, dream of dreams... an award of this medal to a collective... although a full set of them awarded as such would be even better.

[Hauptmann]

Next is my full set of cased Army loyal service medals:

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These are for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years loyal service in the NVA.

These medals also have the same variants I mentioned on the Army service medals with the additional variant concerning the state seal on the flag pictured on the obverse of these medals. One has an outer ring while the other does not have the ring.

Again, these are ready made for collectors who love to obtain different types and variations.

[Hauptmann]

Now for my full cased set of the Banner der Arbeit (Banner of Labor):

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And my Service Medal of the DDR. This is the "official" civilian version but there is an "unofficial" military version... only difference is in the ribbon. Same ribbon but the "military" version is mounted on the standard DDR Soviet style five sided ribbon minus the metal attachment.

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[Hauptmann]

Here are my cased Army Reserve medals. I ended up with an extra silver and hope to complete a second set someday.

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And my Leistungsabzeichen:

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There are seven levels of this award and I would love to have a complete set someday.

[Hauptmann]

Next is my full cased set of Ernst Schneller medals. I understand the gold is a bit hard to find so I'm glad I have all of them... one less thing to hunt down.

I'm not quite sure what they were awarded for but they're nice looking medals.

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And a Young Activist medal:

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[Hauptmann]

This one is the Gold Honor Pin for Merit in the Socialist Education Program. I believe there is also a silver and bronze level for this award.

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A cased Meine Heimat (My Homeland) pin:

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A badge for active work:

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I don't know the exact title of this one... have seen it a gazillion times.

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[Hauptmann]

Here are some more miscellaneous pins and badges:

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And some stickpins, mini's and some miniature and stickpin versions of the sports badges as well as several variations of same including one with an A on it (the kind of stout looking one in bronze off to the left):

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And a Border Guard qualification badge:

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[Hauptmann]

Next is the DDR Police Highest Honor medal. This one is also known as the "Grim Reaper" for obvious reasons.

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Two police academy graduation badges... I believe one is for the NCO academy and the other for officers:

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And a set of K9 badges:

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[Hauptmann]

And last but not least is my Panzer Meister badge. There were three types of Panzer badge. The first type looked like this with the exception that the "flag" at the top of the wreath had only the DDR state colors. This was used from 1958 to 1960.

The second type (mine) had the state seal included on the flag at the top of the wreath. This was used from 1960 to 1963.

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The third type (to my knowledge) looks similar to the majority of the qualification badges shown in my post, including the one for the Border Guard... except on the Panzer it has a pink background for the center color with a picture of a tank, the number of the qualification badge and the flag with state seal at the top of the wreath.

Well, that's it for now. I do have some extras, field guard, insignia, uniforms, caps, etc. but as far as awards this pretty well does it for this post.

If anyone has any additional information on anything I've posted please feel free to post it. I'm always open to learning more about anything I have.

I hope to add more to my DDR collection over time but for now I've been trying to concentrate on my Soviet awards and flag/finial collections.

Thanks for looking and I hope you've enjoyed the show.

Dan

[Paul R]

Nice collection! I especailly enjoy the qualification badges and the award citations.

[ehrentitle]

Thanks for sharing your collection. Kampfgruppen and VOPO medals and badges some of the most affordable of East German collectables. I'll try to post a couple of examples of varations of medals to illustrate your comments. Kevin

[ehrentitle]

KG Silver service medals. The medal on the left purchased in Berlin in 1990, the two on the right purchased in the last couple of years.

[ehrentitle]

Reverse - The main difference, besides signs of use and age, is the pinback. On the medal to the left there is a locking device for the pin which is not present on those on the left.

[ehrentitle]

Here is an example of a badge from the 1960-63 period (Klassifizierrungabzeichen dur Funkorter der Luftstreitkrafe).

[ehrentitle]

And the reverse. Notice the way the screw post is mounted, it is pressed into the body of the badge. Newer badges have screw like post soldered to the badge. A number of these restrike badges (as well as medals) were made by the original manufacturer just before and a few years after the fall of the wall from the orignial dies. All of the restrikes have the screw like post.

Edited May 29, 2006 by ehrentitle