Medal for fighters against fascism 1933 to 1945

The medal for fighters against fascism 1933 to 1945 was a state award of the GDR .

Foundation and award requirements

The medal was donated by the GDR Council of Ministers on February 22, 1958 . Awards were given to those involved in the resistance struggle against National Socialism , for example former prisoners in prisons , penitentiaries and concentration camps , political emigrants and members of the international brigades . The work against fascism in the National Committee Free Germany was recognized, for example Lieutenant General Arno von Lenski (since 1940 honorary member of the People's Court , later General of the NVA ) as well as the work in the Free German Movement .

The medal was only awarded once and only to individuals. A certificate was part of their award, which was carried out by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. Since 1964, all holders of the medal have received an annual honorarium of 600 marks .

Appearance and wearing style

The silver-plated medal with a diameter of 32 mm shows on its obverse the portraits of the head of Rudolf Breitscheid and Ernst Thälmann (front), seen from the left . These are enclosed by the above semicircular inscription: FIGHTER AGAINST FASCHISM. The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, shows the GDR's national coat of arms in the middle, surrounded by the inscription: FORWARD AND NOT FORGOTTEN (above) and the year 1933. 1945 (below). The medal was worn on the upper left side of the chest on a 28 mm wide rectangular red covered clasp, which from 1959 was only 24 mm wide. A 7.5 mm high black, red and gold bar was woven into the ribbon in a horizontal position. The corresponding interim brace was of the same quality.

Known carriers (incomplete)

• 1958: Hermann Axen
• 1958: Martin Burkhardt
• 1958: Peter Florin
• 1958: Paul Fröhlich
• 1958: Walter Hähnel
• 1958: Greta Kuckhoff
• 1958: Charlotte Küter
• 1958: Arno von Lenski
• 1958: Paul Lewitt
• 1958: Arthur Lieberasch
• 1958: Paul Meuter
• 1958: Karl Raddatz
• 1958: Heinrich Rau
• 1958: Willi Stoph
• 1958: Elfriede Paul
• 1958: Erich Mielke
• 1958: Hannelore Willbrandt-Sieber-Ploog
• 1959: Ernst Sieber
• 1959: Otto Kleine
• 1963: Otto Herrmann Moritz
• 1965: Aleksander Kulisiewicz
• 1967: Edith Braemer
• 1971: Doris Wetterhahn
• Year of award unknown:
  • Paul Dessau (1894–1979)
  • Gustav Artur Dorf (1908–1972)
  • Elisabeth Jäger (1924-2019)
  • Jürgen Kuczynski (1904–1997)
  • Betty Loewen-Zimmering (1909–1973)
  • Gertrud Marx (1904–1989)
  • Hans Schnitzler (1908–1985)
  • Stanislaw Trabalski (1896–1985)
  • Hedwig Voegt (1903–1988)

See also

• Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters Committee
• Persecuted by the Nazi regime

literature

• Günter Tautz: Orders and Medals. State awards of the German Democratic Republic (= BI-Taschenlexikon ). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1983.

Web links

• Further information ( Memento of July 24, 2002 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Günter Tautz: Orders and Medals. State awards of the German Democratic Republic (= BI-Taschenlexikon ). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1983, p. 74.
2. ^ Frank Bartel: Awards of the German Democratic Republic from the beginning to the present. Recordings by Jürgen Karpinski. Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic , Berlin 1979, pp. 157–158.
3. ^ The political prisoners of the Oranienburg concentration camp: Moritz, Otto Hermann. In: www.stiftung-bg.de. Retrieved August 17, 2016 .