Honored employee in the foreign policy service

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The honorary title of Honored Employee in the Foreign Policy Service was a state award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was apparently withdrawn in the form of a medal in 1979 shortly before its foundation and was therefore not endowed or approved by the Council of Ministers of the GDR. The undisputed existence of the medal can be clearly demonstrated on the basis of the numerous copies in the free trade, but there are no corresponding foundation regulations from the GDR legal gazette from 1979 and 1980 that would justify the legitimation of the honorary title. This honorary title is not even mentioned in corresponding publications, in particular the BI-Taschenlexikon Orders and Medals - State Awards of the German Democratic Republic by Günter Tautz in the 1983 edition. It is therefore unclear why the honorary title was not donated. On the other hand, this honorary title could also be a non-official title, which, however, is rather unlikely due to the external effect of an honorary title, also because it would primarily have been awarded to ambassadors and their employees.

Appearance and wearing style

The bronze medal with a diameter of 30 mm shows on its obverse on a grained background the plastic representation of a raised embossed globe with longitudes and latitudes. The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, showed the GDR's national coat of arms. The medal should have been worn on the upper left chest on a red covered clasp. Its hem consisted of a 3 mm wide vertical black, red and gold stripe, with the color black on the outside. The interim clasp was of the same quality and also showed the 10 mm diameter miniature of the state coat of arms of the GDR in bronze in its center.

Honored employee in the foreign policy service

The common practice in the GDR of donating an honorary medal to an honorary title, in this case the medal of Honored Employee in the Foreign Policy Service , never happened because these three levels, bronze, silver and gold, never existed. There are also no such specimens in stores. This fact therefore also supports the fact that even the honorary title was not donated and the government of the GDR refrained from this project.

literature

  • Frank Bartel: GDR special catalog. Volume 1: State Awards of the German Democratic Republic, 1949–1990. Berlin auction house for history, Berlin 1990.