Blucher Order

Blücher Order (war award of the GDR)
Order on ribbon in gold, silver and bronze (obverse)
Founder:	State Council Chairman of the GDR (Walter Ulbricht)
Foundation year:	1968
Carrying method:	left breast side

Blücher medal in gold

The Blücher Order and the Blücher Medal are not awarded war awards of the GDR .

They should be awarded for “bravery in war” as an order and medal in the stages gold , silver and bronze . They were named after Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher , a Prussian field marshal (also called "Marshal Forward"), who crossed the Rhine border on New Year's Eve of 1814 in the war against Napoléon Bonaparte . The order was designed in the shape of a cross and carried the portrait medallion of Blucher placed in the middle, which was framed by an oak wreath open at the top. The reverse had the inscription FOR TALENT above the state coat of arms of the GDR . The Blücher medal was designed on the front with the stamped cross of the Blücher order.

The Blücher Order and the Blücher Medal were donated on September 18, 1968 by Walter Ulbricht , then Chairman of the State Council of the GDR ; they expired with the end of the GDR in 1990.

Neither decorations nor medals were ever awarded, as the GDR has never actively participated in acts of war in its history. For such a case, however, the NVA had already stored Blücher orders and Blücher medals in large numbers. These were manufactured in secrecy by VEB Präwema in Markneukirchen , where the prototypes were also kept under lock and key . The existence of these awards only became known after the fall of the Wall . Copies of the order are now in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr in Dresden , on the Berlin-Gatow airfield and in the Danish Langelandsfort ; the Blücher medal is on display in the Point Alpha memorial (house on the border).

Interim braces

The interim clasp for the Blücher Order was planned in three stages below.

• highest level - gold
• middle level - silver
• lowest level - bronze

The interim clasp for the Blücher Medal was planned in three stages below.

• Tier I - gold
• Tier II - silver
• Stage III - bronze

Web links

Commons : Blücher Order  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Blücher Order for bravery in the Military History Museum of the Bundeswehr - Berlin-Gatow airfield. museum-digital.de, accessed on March 16, 2012 . 
• Op deze pagina staan ​​zowel de Blücher orden as Blücher medaille afgebeeld (Dutch)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bartel, Frank: GDR special catalog volume I. State awards of the German Democratic Republic 1949-1990. P. 21 and p. 144.