Lessing Medal
The Lessing Medal, the official ministerial award in the GDR , was awarded in memory of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing on the occasion of the final exam in schools as special recognition for excellent performance and very good social and extracurricular work. It was founded on April 28, 1950. It initially only existed in one stage, later in three stages and finally in two stages.
The Lessing Medal was a prestigious award of the GDR, with which the completion of the 10th grade of the polytechnic high school or the 12th grade of the extended high school with the grade "passed with distinction" was honored up to the turn of 1990 . In addition, a certain social commitment or partisan attitude was required. The candidates therefore had to be proposed by the class teacher and confirmed by the school director and district school council. For the Lessing Medal in gold, the grade “very good” had to be achieved in all subjects of the diploma. In the case of the Lessing Medal in silver, a “good” was allowed in two subjects. The highest level required confirmation by the Ministry of National Education and ensured preferential treatment at universities and in training companies. Among other things, the award was presented to former students on October 7th, Republic Day , during a flag roll call .
Appearance and wearing style
The Lessing Medal of the first form was a 46.5 mm diameter non-wearable medal made of brown Böttger stoneware , of which only a few copies are known.
The second form of the medal with a diameter of 32 mm was also not wearable and consisted of gold-plated silver, silver or bronze paint and was presented in a case. It was the only form that was given in three stages. On her obverse it showed the large left-looking head relief of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and the widely spread inscription: GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING . Together with the case medal, the recipient received a 16 mm diameter miniature as a pin that could be worn on the lapel. Their quality corresponded to the level awarded. The appearance was also identical to the case medal, but without inscription.
The third form of the medal, which was only awarded in gold and silver, showed the unchanged obverse of its predecessor. However, the miniature was dropped in favor of a newly created blue ribbon-covered clasp that was 25 mm wide. A 3 mm wide vertical black, red and gold central stripe was woven into the middle of the ribbon. 2 mm from the hem, a 1 mm wide vertical bar was woven in on both sides, which was white-gray for the silver level and golden-yellow for the gold level. The reverse showed the three-line inscription in the middle in very large letters: FOR / EXCELLENT / PERFORMANCE , surrounded by the inscription: GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC above and MINISTRY FOR VOCAL EDUCATION below.
The fourth and last form of the medal, which was awarded from 1974, showed only minor changes compared to its predecessor, especially in the relief depth. Thus, Lessing's head relief on the obverse became smaller and his signature no longer extended over the entire circumference. The lapel also saw minor changes. The middle inscription FOR / EXCELLENT / PERFORMANCE was smaller and showed a small branch of laurel pointing to the left under the last word. The ribbon clasp for the medal remained the same, but also showed a 10 mm diameter attached miniature of the GDR's national coat of arms in silver or gold. The interim brace was of the same quality. Both the third and fourth forms were worn on the upper left side of the chest.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ordinance on securing a fixed order in general education schools - school regulations - of October 20, 1967, §33 ( Journal of Laws of II No. 111 p. 769) ddr-schulrecht.de (PDF; 98 kB)
- ^ Frank Bartel, Jürgen Karpinski: Awards of the German Democratic Republic from the beginning to the present. Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1979, p. 200.