Home More advice General Knowledge
My Grandpa had a large collection of medals ect mostly were his and his brothers but i came across this German one (this isn't my picture but its the exact same thing) and has the date 1939 on...can anyone tell me Who would have worn it Where/When was it worn? or any other basic information about this would be helpful as i know nothing about it or never had the chance to ask my Grandpa where he got it from.
It's the German iron cross. That medal was invented by German-Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. in the early 1800s and given to people who fended for the freedom of their "fatherland". It was a military order, but it was also given to civilians who did great merit during a war. Like inventors or brave messengers who carried an important message through dangerous territory.
It was very untypical for European war medals in the 1800s in two ways. First it was artless and not made of precious material. Second, it was given to brave people regardless of their rank or social caste.
The cross was designed after the coat of arms of the Teutonic Knights. http://funadvice.com/r/154g4udockv
Here's one from the German Empire (when we still had a Monarchy) http://funadvice.com/r/154g4udoduk Here's one like the one you have http://funadvice.com/r/bjd1hg9kn9a
Here's the wiki site for the iron cross... http://funadvice.com/r/154g4udog6e
And here's the German wiki site (well, it's in German, but there are a lot of pictures on it, so you could compare your medal to them) http://funadvice.com/r/154g4udoqin
It's the iron cross, awarded for bravery or other military success in battle, it was restored by Hitler in 1939 as not a prussian decoration but a german one
I didn't read it, I was told it by my neighbour who is german and his grandfather fought in WWII so I think he would know
Well it's obviously Nazi related seeing as it has a huge swastika smack dab in the middle haha.
oh this 1, i forgot...
ill scan these pages tomorrow and show you what i mean. ;)
lol i know that x] i just want to know the basic stuff about it
where did you read that?
lizzo its about 20% true ;)
it's quite accurate, actually. :-)
Thank you! this is very useful :)
no sh*t sherlock
E
this is the medal