Medal for Faithful Service in the National People's Army

Medal for loyal service ; in the East German NVA
	Medal on ribbon (obverse)
Founder:
Foundation year:	1956
Carrying method:	left breast side

The medal for loyal service in the National People's Army was a state award of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was awarded on June 1, 1956, initially in three and on August 28, 1964 by one in a total of four levels, bronze , silver or gold (with the mentioned special level) was donated. They were awarded after a certain number of years of service. In detail this meant:

Graduation

The medal was established in four stages. These goods:

for 20 years of service in gold level II with an applied XX on the ribbon
for 15 years of service in gold
for 10 years of service in silver
for 5 years of service in bronze

The interim clips shown above were identical to those of the " Medal for loyal service in the GDR border troops ".

They were awarded to all members of the NVA for honest, conscientious and loyal fulfillment of their duties, whereby until March 1, 1957, periods of service in various police organs of the GDR and / or the barracked people's police were also taken into account, including in the event that the medal was already awarded for loyal service in the barracked people's police .

Appearance and wearing style

The appearance and the way the medal is worn, except for a tiny detail in the inscription on the reverse of the medal for loyal service in civil defense of the German Democratic Republic and the medal for loyal service in the border troops of the German Democratic Republic , all of which were donated later are. The bronze, silver-plated or gold-plated medal with a diameter of 35 mm shows two waving flags on its obverse , of which the front is the state flag of the GDR and the one behind is the red workers flag (flag of the working class). The German flag was carried out without the national coat of arms until 1959. Underneath are the embossed letters DDR . The sequence of letters and flags are framed in half on the left and right by a small three-leaved oak leaf with an acorn. The symbolism is enclosed by the inscription: FÜR LREUE DIENSTE ( above) and NATIONAL PEOPLE'S ARMY (below). The only difference to the gold medal for 15-year-olds and 20-year service is the miniature edition in the form of a double XX (Roman for 20) which is placed on the ribbon. The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, shows the GDR's national coat of arms surrounded by the inscription: FÜR DEN SCHUTZ (above) and DER ARBEITER UND FAUERN-MACHT (below). The lettering itself is in turn enclosed by two curved laurel branches that are crossed at the bottom and open at the top. The medal was worn on a pentagonal pentagonal light green covered clasp in the highest step on the upper left side of the chest. The hem of the ribbon is formed by a vertical 8 mm wide black, red and gold stripe. When awarding the silver and / or gold level, a 1.5 mm wide silver or gold central stripe is also woven into the middle. When the medal for 20 years of service was awarded, the aforementioned 17 mm large golden XX is also applied, which can also be found on the interim clasp. Otherwise the interim clasps with the dimensions 25 × 14 mm correspond to the ribbons.

Manufacturing details, rough classification

Gold level for 20 years of service

until 1966: gold-plated silver with a 900 mark on the back, colored enamelled flags
from 1966: gilded bronze, colored enamelled flags
from 1972: briefly gold-plated silver with a 900 mark on the back in a different digit quality
from 1972: gilded bronze, flag surface grained and varnished in color
from 1977: gilded bronze, smooth flag surface, change of the inscription on the back to ARBEITER-UND-BAUERN-MACHT

Gold grade

until 1959: gold-plated silver with a 900 mark in the edge without the national coat of arms on the German flag of the obverse
from 1960: gold-plated silver with a 900 mark on the back
from 1966: gilded bronze
from 1972: briefly gold-plated silver with a 900 mark on the back in a different digit quality
from 1972: gilded bronze with new coats of arms with a narrow ring around the coat of arms
from 1977: gilded bronze, change of the inscription on the back to ARBEITER-UND-BAUERN-MACHT

Silver grade

until 1959: silver with a 900 mark in the edge without the national coat of arms on the German flag of the obverse, award numbers up to 00200 stamped on the back
from 1960: silver with a 900 mark in the edge and the national coat of arms on the German flag of the obverse
from 1962: Silver with 900 hallmark over laurel branches on the lapel of the medal
from 1964: Silver with a 900 mark under laurel branches on the lapel of the medal
from 1966: silver-plated bronze
from 1972: temporarily silver with a 900 mark with a new coat of arms embossing with a narrow ring around the coat of arms
from 1972: silver-plated bronze with a new coat of arms
from 1977: silver-plated bronze, change of the inscription on the back to ARBEITER-UND-BAUERN-MACHT

Bronze level

Until 1959 without the national coat of arms on the German flag of the obverse, on the reverse stamped award numbers up to over 040,000
from 1960 with the state coat of arms of the GDR on the GDR flag
from 1972: New state coat of arms of the GDR on the obverse of the flag with a narrow ring around the coat of arms
from 1977: Change of the inscription on the back to ARBEITER-UND-BAUERN-MACHT

Individual evidence

^ 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. 154–155.

[1] 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. 154–155.