Ernst Schneller Medal
The Ernst Schneller Medal was the highest award of the Society for Sport and Technology in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was donated in 1961 in three stages, bronze , silver and gold . On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the GDR on October 7, 1974, an honor bar was also donated for the gold medal. The medal was awarded for outstanding services in educating young people to be ready for defense.
Appearance and wearing style
The bronze, silver-plated or gold-plated medal with a diameter of 31.5 mm shows the head portrait of Ernst Schneller offset in the center left on its obverse and his life dates almost on the edge of the medal: 1890/1944 . The inscription, which makes up about 1/4 of the total circle, is located on the upper left edge of the medal and runs clockwise and reads: ERNST FASTER . The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, shows the six-line inscription: FOR THE / STRENGTHEN / THE DEFENSE FORCE / OUR / SOCIALIST / HOME. Below are two crossed laurel branches that are curved upwards in a semicircle. The abbreviation for Society for Sport and Technology GST is at the intersection . The medal was worn on the upper left side of the chest until 1972 on a trapezoidal red enameled clasp, the base of which was grained. It showed in its center the symbol of the GST, an anchor overlaid by a crossed rifle and propeller, which had the color of the awarded level of the medal. From 1974, the medal was then worn on a red-covered rectangular clasp, on the center of which the symbol of the GST was also placed as a miniature in the color of the awarded level. The interim brace was of the same quality. The clasp for the gold medal from 1974 showed the GST symbol in the middle of the clasp and two laurel branches underneath that were slightly bent upwards. Overall, this made the miniature a bit smaller. Here, too, the interim clasp corresponded to the clasp.
Individual evidence
- ^ Frank Bartel: Awards of the German Democratic Republic from the beginnings to the present . Photographs by Jürgen Karpinski. Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1979, p. 192 .