Order of the White Lion

Collane

Officer's Cross with Swords, 1922–1948

The Order of the White Lion (Czech Řád bílého lva ) is the highest state award in the Czech Republic and is awarded by the President or by persons appointed by him.

The order was originally founded on December 7, 1922 by decree of the Czechoslovak government as an award for foreigners. Since 1961, the medal has also been given to nationals.

Order classes

The order consists of five classes and one medal:

• Grand Cross
• Grand Officer
• Commander
• officer
• Knight
• White Lion Medal

Foreign heads of state receive the Grand Cross as a collar .

Medals

The medal of all classes consists of a five-armed cross, the arms of which extend radially from a central medallion. The end of each arm is three-pronged and the tips of the prongs are each studded with a bead. The cross arms are connected to one another by a linden leaf each. In the middle is an upright, left-facing silver Bohemian lion . On it the national coat of arms . Until 1960, the monogram ČSR could be seen on the back of the medallion. The motto PRAVDA VÍTĚZÍ (Truth wins) all around .

A linden wreath is attached between the support ring and the medal. Two crossed swords on it for military service, otherwise two crossed palms.

The ribbon is scarlet red with white side stripes.

Others

There was also an order of the same name, which was founded on February 9, 1945, but is no longer awarded today, the War Order of the White Lion for victory .

Known porters

1925

• Albert I the Belgian

1926

• Benito Mussolini
• Eugène Mittelhauser

1929

• Robert Baden-Powell

1930

• Aurel Racovitza

1931

• Jonas Jackus , Lithuanian Lieutenant General
• Petras Kubiliūnas , Lithuanian Lieutenant General
• Antanas Smetona , President of Lithuania

1932

• Jonas Sutkus , Lithuanian Lieutenant General

1933

• Zdzisław Jachimecki

1934

• Louis-Eugène Faucher
• Antanas Gustaitis , Lithuanian pilot

1937

• William Beardmore
• Kurt Schuschnigg , Federal Chancellor of Austria 
• Nikola Tesla

1939

• RM Smyllie , editor of the Irish Times

1945

• Bernard Montgomery
• George Smith Patton

1946

• Josip Broz Tito , President and Marshal of Yugoslavia
• Edvard Beneš
• Ludvík Svoboda
• Ivan Stepanowitsch Konew
• Chiang Kai-shek

1955

• Georgi Konstantinowitsch Schukow

1956

• Wilhelm Pieck

1972

• Fidel Castro

1973

• Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

1977

• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
• Dmitri Fyodorovich Ustinov

1978

• Muammar al-Gaddafi

1983

• Maurice Bishop

1987

• Mengistu Haile Mariam

1989

• Yasser Arafat

1990

• Vladimír Krajina
• François Mitterrand
• Zdena Salivarová
• Josef Škvorecký

1995

• Jan Bret , Major General i. R.
• Juan Carlos I , King of Spain
• Miroslav Kácha , Major General i. R.
• Antonín Hasal , General, in memoriam
• Felix Peřka , Major General i. R.

1996

• Elizabeth II , Queen of Britain
• Alois Eliáš , General Ing., In memoriam
• Bernardin Cardinal Gantin
• Vladimír Nedvěd , Major General i. R.
• Ezer Weizman , Israeli President

1997

• Madeleine Albright , US Secretary of State
• Jacques Chirac , French President
• Jean-Philippe Douin , Air Force General
• George A. Joulwan , General
• Jindřich Macháček , major general i. R.
• Karel J. Procházka , Major General i. R.
• Radovan Procházka , Colonel General
• František Peřina , major general i. R.
• Josef Robotka , Major General, in memoriam
• Sergej Vojcechovský , General, in memoriam

1998

• Josef Bartík , Major General, in memoriam
• Antonín Číla , Brigadier General, in memoriam
• Bill Clinton , American President
• Paul Hatry , Belgian politician
• Bedřich Homola , General, in memoriam
• Josef Hyhlík , Major General, in memoriam
• Joachim Cardinal Meisner
• George S. Patton , General
• John M. Shalikashvili , General
• František Slunečko , Brigadier General, in memoriam
• Javier Solana , European politician

1999

• George HW Bush , American President
• Mikhail Sergejewitsch Gorbachev , Soviet President
• Helmut Kohl , Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
• François Mitterrand , French President, in memoriam
• Klaus Naumann , General
• Ronald Reagan , American President
• Margaret Thatcher , British Prime Minister
• Lech Wałęsa , Polish President
• Simon Wiesenthal

2000

• Willy Brandt , Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, in memoriam
• Bruno Kreisky , Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, in memoriam
• Olof Palme , Swedish Prime Minister, in memoriam
• Johannes Rau , Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Pravomil Raichl
• Vilém Stanovský , Brigadier General of the Air Force, in memoriam

2002

• Josef Duda , Major General, in memoriam
• Oto Stehlík
• Guido Venturoni , admiral
• Thomas Ray Wilson , Vice Admiral

2003

• Alexander Dubček , in memoriam , Czechoslovak politician
• Árpád Göncz , Hungarian President
• Vaclav Havel
• Anton Petrák , Major General i. R.
• Alois Šiška , Major General, in memoriam
• Richard von Weizsäcker , President of the Federal Republic of Germany

2004

• František Fajtl , Colonel General i. R.
• Rudolf Severin Krzák , Major General i. R., in memoriam
• Aleksander Kwaśniewski , Polish President

2005

• Josef Buršík , Major General i. R., in memoriam
• Rudolf Pernický , Major General i. R.

2006

• Antonín Špaček , Major General i. R.
• Josef Bryks , in memoriam

2007

• Stanislav Kraus , in memoriam
• Otakar Hrubý , Colonel of the Air Force, DFC in memoriam

2008

• Jiří Zenáhlík , Colonel i. R.

2009

• Otakar Černý , Colonel, in memoriam
• Imrich Gablech , Colonel i. R.

2010

• Lech Kaczyński , Polish President, in memoriam
• Emil Boček
• Marie Ljalková-Lastovecká
• Jan Plovajko

2011

• Mikuláš Končický , Brigadier General i. R.
• Jan Velík , Colonel i. R.
• Václav Djačuk , Colonel i. R.

2012

• Alexander Beer (in memoriam)
• Vasil Korol

2013

• Ivan Gašparovič

2014

• Joachim Gauck , Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Robert Fico
• Winston Churchill (in memoriam)
• Franz Vranitzky , former Federal Chancellor of the Republic of Austria
• Nicholas Winton

2015

• Abdullah II bin al-Hussein
• Josef František (in memoriam)

2016

• Jaroslav Klemeš
• Karel Janoušek (in memoriam)
• Karel Kuttelwascher (in memoriam)
• Alois Dubec
• Andrzej Duda , Polish President
• Dominik Duka , Archbishop
• Günter Verheugen , former EU Commissioner

2017

• Michael Häupl , Mayor of Vienna
• Borut Pahor , President of Slovenia
• Karel Kutlvašr (in memoriam)
• Ludvík Krejčí (in memoriam)
• Karel Pezl
• Gerhard Schröder , former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

2018

• Josef Bílý
• Stanislav Čeček
• Karel Husárek
• Antonín Švehla
• Jan Gajdoš
• Karel Lansky

literature

• Kurt-Gerhard Klietmann , Ottfried Neubecker (ed.): Ordens-Lexikon. Part 3. The Order Collection, Berlin 1964.

Web links

• About the Order of the White Lion
• Awards (pages of the Czech Presidential Office in Hradcany)
• List of medals

Individual evidence

1. ↑ High Czechoslovak Order for Dr. v. Schuschnigg. In:  Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt (No. 25996 M / 1937), January 24, 1937, p. 6, top left. (Online at ANNO ).