Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr for bravery

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Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr for bravery
Cross of Honor
Awarded by Germany
Art Badge of honor
requirement Soldier of the Bundeswehr
Awarded for For extraordinarily brave deeds
status Is awarded.
Data
Foundation year 2008
Benefactor Franz Josef Jung
First awarded July 6, 2009
Last award 22nd September 2014
Awards 29
Awarded posthumously 3
Precedence
Next lower award Gold Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr in a special design
Strap buckle

The Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery is the Bundeswehr's highest award . It was donated on August 13, 2008 by the Federal Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung as the fifth and highest level of the Bundeswehr's badge of honor and approved on September 18, 2008 by Federal President Horst Köhler . It was first awarded on July 6, 2009. The Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery is the first explicit bravery award in the history of the German armed forces .

Foundation, endowment

The Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery was introduced by the decree on the new version of the decree on the foundation of the Bundeswehr Badge of Honor of August 13, 2008 as a new fifth level and at the same time the seventh version of the Bundeswehr badge of honor "for extraordinarily brave deeds" . After the approval of the Federal President, the foundation became legally effective with its publication in the Federal Gazette and Federal Law Gazette on October 10, 2008. The award was made against the background of the high demands and the numerous dangers to life and limb that have arisen for the soldiers of the Bundeswehr who have been participating in foreign missions since 1999 . With their foundation, the wish was met in the future to honor extraordinary bravery with an independent, distinguished award and not to fall back on the same cross of honor as before, which, for example, soldiers of the Bundeswehr in their home country for "loyal fulfillment of duties and above-average performance" after a can be awarded for certain periods of service and deployment.

The introduction of the new Cross of Honor comes at the end of a long public debate, during which numerous citizens, politicians and the media spoke out in favor of an award for bravery. In 2007, an Air Force ensign called for the reintroduction of the Iron Cross with a Bundestag petition that had 5067 draftsmen within just under two months . After deliberation, the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag decided on December 13, 2007 to refer the petition to the Federal Ministry of Defense. In March 2008, it finally came to a controversy about the CDU - Deputies and President of the reservists Association of the Bundeswehr , Ernst-Reinhard Beck , who also called for an award in the form of the Iron Cross. The critics pointed to the misuse of the award by the National Socialists in World War II and the historical tradition as a war award . Proponents referred to the fact that this symbol is an official emblem of the Bundeswehr and emphasized that as a symbol of the wars of liberation against Napoleonic rule, it has a tradition that extends far beyond the Third Reich.

Award Regulations

According to the applicable procedural information, "the normal level of basic bravery (§ 7 Soldiers Act - SG ) must be clearly exceeded" to honor an act with the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery . The person to be honored must have shown "consciously fear-overcoming, courageous behavior in the event of exceptional danger to life and limb with steadfastness and patience for the ethically sound fulfillment of the military mission" .

An award proposal can only be submitted by the disciplinary superiors of the person concerned at the time of their brave act . This can happen at any time and is not tied to a certain minimum period of service of the proposed person in the Bundeswehr. The proposal shall be accompanied by a written justification in each case, taking into account the above criteria and "if necessary also demonstrates outstanding leadership behavior in the specific operational situation as well as independent, determined and successful action in an uncertain situation in a comprehensible manner . ” The corresponding higher superiors are obliged to comment on this. Finally, the respective inspector responsible for the service must give his approval. As a rule, he also hands over the award, but can also delegate this to superiors (at least at division level ) in individual cases .

layout

The design of the award corresponds to the Gold Cross of Honor of the Bundeswehr introduced in 1980 . The only difference is the additional ribbon in the form of a gold-colored double oak leaf , which also carries the ribbon buckle instead of a miniature cross.

Difference to honor crosses in a special design

The Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery was created at the same time as the two crosses of honor in a special design. Special personal individual achievements, for example life saving, can now be taken into account through two special variants of the Bundeswehr badge in silver and gold ( "for particularly outstanding achievements, in particular individual acts without or at (silver or gold) danger to life and limb, without minimum period of service " ). A red border around the cross serves as identification. These two special versions are not independent levels, but new possibilities (the fifth and sixth) of the badge of honor. In the past, people managed in individual cases by awarding the Federal Cross of Merit .

Awards

With the award of the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery for the first time on July 6, 2009, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Jung paid tribute to their extraordinarily brave behavior in the Afghanistan mission (October 2008). The Chancellor made the award herself. In 2010, Defense Minister zu Guttenberg awarded a total of nine additional crosses of honor for bravery on three different occasions. At the award ceremony on November 29, 2010, two soldiers who fell on Good Friday of the year were honored posthumously and all six recipients were also awarded the newly introduced combat medal at the same time . On September 6, 2011, an officer in the rank of lieutenant colonel was awarded the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery for the first time. Currently (2013), after a total of 26 awards, there are at least 17 living bearers of the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery.

Comparability with historical German bravery awards

A line of tradition between the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for bravery and earlier German bravery awards cannot be drawn. In terms of the awarding practice across all ranks and in its execution, however, the award is similar to the Iron Cross , which was awarded to officers, NCOs and men without distinction. In the past, however, the Iron Cross was only donated after a general and formal state of war with a third country had been declared, but not during combat operations in peacetime (during civil unrest or uprisings or during so-called "police actions" to conquer and rule the German colonial empire ). However, its form and awarding practice is based on the War Merit Cross in World War II, which in turn was modeled on the medals of the federal states after the First World War.

Web links

annotation

  1. ↑ In exceptional cases, the Bundeswehr Badge of Honor can be awarded to civilians and soldiers of foreign armed forces if they have rendered services to the Bundeswehr. The award to Germans is only permitted with the consent of the Federal President's Office , to foreigners only with the consent of the Foreign Office .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Brochure of the BMVg (ed.): Badges of honor and medals of the Bundeswehr. Berlin / Bonn 2011. ( Memento from May 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Petition: Introduction of the Iron Cross for Bundeswehr soldiers ( Memento from July 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Alexander Szansar: Iron Cross for the Bundeswehr - New sheet metal for the chest . Spiegel Online from March 5, 2008.
  4. ↑ Stephan Löwenstein: The Return of the Iron Cross? FAZ.NET from March 6, 2008.
  5. ↑ Procedural information from the Federal Ministry of Defense for the award of the Bundeswehr Badge of Honor (new version) from June 2009
  6. ^ Decree on the revision of the decree on the Foundation of the Decoration of Honor of the Bundeswehr of August 13, 2008. (VMBl 2009 p. 12) ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Chancellor Merkel awards the Order of Bravery for the first time Die Welt online