Mother cross

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The Cross of Honor of the German Mother , or Mother's Cross for short , was donated by Adolf Hitler by decree on December 16, 1938 . The design of the cross of honor comes from Franz Berberich . The opening words of this ordinance read: “As a visible sign of thanks from the German people to mothers with many children, I am donating the German Mother's Cross of Honor.” The other procedural rules were published in the statutes of the same name.

The badge is one of the anti-constitutional propaganda tools in the Federal Republic of Germany . It is forbidden to create, carry or distribute it in public.

prehistory

During the National Socialist era , women were ousted from public life and, according to the National Socialist image of women , their role was reduced to the woman giving birth and mother. Even when Mother's Day was officially introduced as a public holiday on the 3rd Sunday of May 1934, this did not change, women were further displaced as a result. In order to further reduce female disadvantage, but also to increase the willingness to give birth and to show "how important the contribution they made in the form of children was for the Reich", the Mother Cross was donated in 1938 during the preparatory phase of the war. A similar practice was already common in France with the award of the Médaille de la Famille française . This honor of the French mother continues to this day.

Articles of Association

Purpose of the Cross of Honor

The Cross of Honor of the German Mother was an award for services of German mothers to the German people.

Requirements for the award

The requirements for being awarded the Mother's Cross of Honor corresponded to Nazi ideology. Accordingly, a woman could only receive the mother's cross if:

  • a) the parents of the children were " German-blooded " and "hereditary",
  • b) the mother was worthy of the award (i.e. "hereditary health", "decent" and "morally impeccable"),
  • c) the children were born alive .

Classification of the cross of honor

The division of the cross of honor followed the statutes of the order and was laid out in three stages. So the mother could:

  • third level ("bronze") received if they had four or five children,
  • second level ("silver") received if she had six or seven children,
  • first level (“gold”) received if she had eight or more children.

  • Mother Cross (1st level in gold)

  • Mother's cross of the 1st level in gold with clasp and box

  • 2nd stage mother cross in silver

  • Award bag for the 2nd level

  • 3rd stage mother cross in bronze with accompanying award certificate

  • Award of the mother's cross by party officials and the Association of German Girls (BDM)

  • Honoring a Berliner with the mother's cross of honor in gold

  • Nazi leader Reichel with wife (golden mother's cross) and children in 1943

Shape, way of carrying and composition of the cross of honor

shape

The mother's cross of honor consisted of a narrow, blue enameled long cross with a white border, which was also centered with a white disc. This was the center a black swastika with the versal inscription: "THE GERMAN MOTHER". Metal bundles of rays emerged from the corners of the cross of honor. While the front always remained the same, the back of the cross was varied:

  • 1st variant: "The child ennobles the mother" and the signature "Adolf Hitler".
  • 2nd variant: "16. December 1938 ”(date of foundation) and Hitler's signature.

Carrying method

The cross of honor was carried on a blue, white-blue-white bordered ribbon around the wearer's neck.

nature

The metal parts of the honor cross were according to the awarded

  • 3rd stage bronze-tinted
  • 2nd stage silvered and at the
  • 1st stage gold-plated

With the handover of the honorary cross, the entrusted received a certificate of ownership with a facsimile signature of Hitler and countersignature of the head of the presidential chancellery. The honor cross itself remained as a souvenir to the bereaved after the death of the entrusted.

Implementing regulation

The implementing regulation for the Mother's Cross of Honor, also issued on December 16, 1938, also provided:

Proposals on award

The proposals for the award of the Cross of Honor were to be made ex officio by the mayor or at the request of the local group leader of the NSDAP . In addition, the “District Warden of the Reichsbund der Kinderreich”, in whose area the person to be entrusted had her residence, were entitled to apply. The mayor then submitted the proposals to the lower competent administrative authority. This immediately obtained an expert opinion from the responsible health department of the mother in order to then prepare the award applications in agreement with the district leader of the NSDAP. In municipalities not belonging to the district, the expert opinion of the health department as well as the consent of the district leader had to be brought about directly by the mayor. Around five percent of the suggestions were withdrawn after the doctors and carers had assessed them. The lower administrative authority then compiled the proposals in a list and passed them on to the higher administrative authority, which then passed them on to the Presidential Chancellery at the end of the month.

Presentation of the Cross of Honor

The handing over of the Mother Cross was regulated uniformly throughout the German Empire. It was awarded in a festive act on Mother's Day by the local group leader of the NSDAP, to whom the crosses of honor and title deeds had previously been sent by the lower administrative authority. The handing over of the cross of honor usually took place in a blue box or in a simple paper bag or also directly by the local group leader in an effective way.

Withdrawal of the Cross of Honor

Under certain circumstances, the mother's cross could also be withdrawn again by the Reich Minister of the Interior, namely in those cases in which the wearer behaved “unworthily”, whereby this term was greatly stretched. A love affair with a prisoner of war or a forced laborer , for example, was considered unworthy behavior .

Award numbers

The first awarding of the Cross of Honor in 1938 took place on May 21, 1939. The first recipient was the 61-year-old Louise Weidenfeller from Munich († 1948), who had given birth to a total of eight children.

Because of the high number of 5.5 million crosses of honor, which was not expected during the initial planning, only those mothers who were older than 60 years were honored at this first award. A total of around three million mothers received the Cross of Honor. The other women received it at the harvest festival of the same year. By September 1941 4.7 million women had received the mother's cross. This number rose only moderately in the following years. Further award numbers cannot be proven; other estimates are over 10 million.

Anti-constitutional badge

The Cross of Honor of the German Mother is one of the National Socialist awards, the use of which in the Federal Republic of Germany is not permitted in any form under the law on titles, medals and decorations of July 26, 1957.

See also

literature

  • Irmgard Weyrather: Mother's Cross and Mother's Day. The cult of the "German mother" under National Socialism . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1993, ISBN 3-596-11517-5 (= Fischer paperback , volume 11517 History - The time of National Socialism ).
  • Anna Maria Sigmund : The women of the Nazis . Completely updated and expanded new edition in one volume, Heyne, Munich 2013 (first edition in three volumes 1998–2002), ISBN 978-3-453-60261-8 .
  • Günther Rambach: Swastika and Martinskirche. Fateful years in the Upper Palatinate. 1933-1959 . Self-published, Kümmersbruck 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-031635-7 (p. 76ff: September 1941 - protest by 500 mothers with the return of the mother's cross).

Web links

Commons : Mother Cross  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ordinance on the Foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938 , Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, initial wording
  2. ^ Criminal Code: § 86a Use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations , on: dejure.org
  3. ↑ a b c Carolin Bendel , The German woman and her role in National Socialism on Shoa.de
  4. ↑ Statutes of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938 , Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 1
  5. ↑ On rejection due to "antisociality" cf. Wolfgang Ayaß (arrangement): "Community strangers". Sources on the persecution of "anti-social" 1933–1945 , Koblenz 1998, No. 86 and No. 89.
  6. ↑ Statute of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 2
  7. ↑ Statutes of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 3
  8. ↑ Statute of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 4 paragraph 1
  9. ↑ Statute of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 4, paragraph 2
  10. ↑ Statutes of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 4, Paragraph 3
  11. ↑ Statute of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 4, paragraph 4
  12. ↑ Statutes of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 5
  13. ↑ Implementing ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938 , Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 2
  14. ↑ Statutes of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, Article 6
  15. ↑ Implementing ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 1 paragraph 1
  16. ↑ Implementing ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 1 paragraph 2
  17. ↑ Nicole Kramer: Notes on the introduction of the mother cross ..., In: Zeitgeschichte-online , May 2014 (accessed May 29, 2014)
  18. ↑ Implementation ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 1 paragraph 3
  19. ↑ Implementing ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 3
  20. ↑ Implementing ordinance for the ordinance on the foundation of the Cross of Honor of the German Mother of December 16, 1938, Reichsgesetzblatt No. 224 of December 24, 1938, page 1926 § 4
  21. ↑ Meyers Lexikon, 8th ed., Vol. 8, Col. 14 Mother's Day
  22. ↑ Nicole Kramer: Notes on the introduction of the mother cross ... In: Zeitgeschichte-online, May 2014 (accessed May 29, 2014)