Medal for Faithful Service in the Armed Forces of the Ministry of the Interior
The medal for loyal service in the armed organs of the Ministry of the Interior was a state award of the German Democratic Republic , which was awarded on January 22, 1959 by the GDR Council of Ministers, initially in three stages, bronze , silver or gold and on August 28, 1964 another three was donated on a total of six levels. Officially because the honorary badge itself and the award certificate were awarded years before the foundation. For example on October 7, 1957. The decoration itself was the successor to the medal for loyal service in the German People's Police, which had been awarded up until then . The award took place after a certain number of years of service. In detail this meant:
- for 30 years of service in gold (larger medal diameter and additional miniature on the interim clasp)
- for 25 years of service in gold (larger medal diameter and additional miniature on the interim clasp)
- for 20 years of service in gold (larger medal diameter and additional miniature on the interim clasp)
- for 15 years of service in gold
- for 10 years of service in silver
- for 5 years of service in bronze.
They were awarded to all relatives in the service of the armed organs of the Ministry of the Interior with "faithful, conscientious and honest fulfillment of their duties".
Appearance and wearing style
5 to 15 years of service
The bronze, silver-plated or gold-plated medal with a diameter of 31.5 mm shows a police star with a round center field on its obverse on a granular background , the intersection of which is a small flag of Germany (without the GDR national coat of arms), which was held in the shape of a shield. The round center field is surrounded by the inscription: FÜR TREUE (above) and SERVICES (below). From 1970, instead of the German flag in the form of a shield, the flag of the GDR with the co-embossed state coat of arms was only slightly larger in the same form. The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, shows the large national coat of arms of the GDR.
20 to 30 years of service
The medals of these ranks are all gold-plated and have a diameter of 34.5 mm and show on their obverse an open, tapered double oak leaf wreath that is braided from below and that shows a police star with the state coat of arms of the GDR in the middle. Underneath on an embossed semicircular inscription, the also semicircular inscription: FOR 30 YEARS OF LOYALTY SERVICES , FOR 25 YEARS OF LOYALTY SERVICES or FOR 20 YEARS OF LOYALTY SERVICES . The reverse of the medal shows the same wreath of oak leaves as on the obverse, but instead of the police star, the large state coat of arms of the GDR, which is surrounded by a raised embossed pearl ring.
Carrying method
5 to 15 years of service
All medal levels were worn on a 24 mm wide pentagonal pentagonal green covered clasp, then from 1970 on a light green on the left upper side of the chest in the highest level. In the ribbon itself, unusually three vertical 1.5 mm wide central strips are woven into each step, which are 1.5 mm apart from the center. In the case of the award of the level in gold, these three central stripes are yellow, for the silver level they are white and for the bronze level they are red. The interim clasp corresponds to the ribbon.
20 to 30 years of service
When the medal for 30 years of service was awarded, three vertical golden yellow central stripes 1 mm wide are woven in on both sides, which can be seen on the ribbon 2 mm from the hem. Their distance from one another is 1 mm. When the silver level was awarded, on the other hand, only two 1 mm wide vertical golden yellow stripes were visible, which were also 2 mm away from the hem, the distance between them was also 1 mm. The situation was different with the ribbon for the bronze medal, which only contained a single 1.5 mm wide vertical central stripe in golden yellow, which was found 2.5 mm from the hem on both sides. To better distinguish it visually from the medals up to 15 years of service, the interim clasps of these last three levels also had a 10 mm gold-plated miniature of the police star.
All medal levels were worn on a 24 mm wide pentagonal green covered clasp on the upper left side of the chest. From 1970 on, however, on a more light green one, with the entrusted always wearing the highest awarded level.
Individual evidence
- ↑ feuerwehr-orden.de
- ^ Frank Bartel, GDR special catalog 1949–1990, 3rd edition 2003, page 106
- ^ Awards of the German Democratic Republic Bartel / Karpinski, Military Publishing House of the GDR 1979, page 158/159