Saint George's Medal

The Sankt-Georgs-Medaille (also known as the Saint Georg plaque ) is a badge of honor of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for long-term and well-deserved employees as well as individual members of friendly foreign intelligence services . It was donated on March 31, 1956 and shows Saint George , the patron saint of the BND. Employees still receive the badge today if they leave the BND after at least twelve years of service.

Saint George

Saint George is a widespread patron saint, especially in the former East German and Eastern European area, from which many of the first BND members came. He is a symbol of steadfastness and a dragon slayer , with the dragon standing for evil. In the BND, the victory over the dragon was interpreted allegorically as a symbol for the knowledge of the world from “true” knowledge . Reinhard Gehlen , the first BND President and head of his predecessor organization, the Organization Gehlen , saw in Saint George a symbol of the fight against communism , against which the BND mainly acted in the early years. According to Gehlen, there is no reference to England , of which St. George is also the patron saint.

layout

The medal shows on the obverse without inscription Saint George as a knight with an open helmet visor on horseback, who kills a dragon lying on the ground with a lance. The tip of the lance bores into his open mouth. The reverse shows a laurel wreath as well as the inscription of the foundation date "31.3.1956". The weight is between 40 and 49 grams, depending on the time of production. The medal was available in bronze, silver and gold.

Award

The award ceremony should take place in a dignified setting. From April 1, 1956 onwards, the bronze medal was presented to every employee of the BND who had been a full-time employee for at least ten years, in which case not everyone automatically received an award. The silver version was intended for non-intelligence workers and public officials. For example, the mayor of Pullach in the Isar valley received this . For many years the community was the seat of the former headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service . The golden version was reserved for foreign partners.

The award ceremony followed with an accompanying letter from the BND President, the text of which was as follows or similar:

“It has now been 10 years since you joined the Gehlen organization at the time. This section means a long time under extremely difficult and changeable circumstances at the beginning. It is to be thanked for the reluctant work of all those who have joined our service in the course of these years, but especially the old employees, that our service has been able to develop steadily and has finally acquired an international reputation. I would like to especially thank you for the part that you have contributed through your own work and give you the attached plaque as a memento. "

- The President of the Federal Intelligence Service

history

Reinhard Gehlen was looking for a way to honor long-serving employees and to remind them of the development phase in the 1940s and 1950s. The foundation day, March 31, 1956, was the last day of the Gehlen organization. Allen Welsh Dulles , then head of the Central Intelligence Agency , under whose supervision the Gehlen organization had been since July 1, 1949, received the gold medal with the number 1 in 1956. A year later, Richard Helms , who later became CIA director, received Helms , before responsible for the BND, gold coin number 6. John R. Boker received gold coin number 8. He had interviewed Gehlen in June 1945 while he was a prisoner of war and convinced his superiors that Gehlen's work made sense for the Americans, just as Gehlen wanted . Heinz Felfe , the largest betrayal case in the history of the BND, was awarded the medal on November 6, 1961, immediately before his arrest .

A grant number was engraved on the lower lapel until 1969. By order of November 24, 1969, the medal was to be awarded only to BND employees and only if they left the service after at least 10 years of service. Until May 1977 the production took place in the Bavarian main mint , since then by a private company. In the meantime, there are supposed to have been inflationary and repeated awards for service anniversaries , or every employee received them when they left the service, regardless of the length of service. On May 7, 2008, when the foundation stone was laid for the new headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, a special type of medal was walled in.

Well-known excellent

Allen Welsh Dulles (1893–1969), gold copy No. 1
James H. Critchfield (1917–2003), gold copy No. 4
Richard Helms (1913–2002), gold copy No. 6
John R. Boker (1913–2003), gold copy No. 8

literature

Bodo Hechelhammer (Hrsg.): The Federal Intelligence Service and his Sankt-Georgs-Medaille (= Federal Intelligence Service [Hrsg.]: Communications of the research and working group "History of the BND" . Volume 5 ). 2nd act. Edition. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-943549-07-2 ( online [PDF; 2.9 MB ]).

Individual evidence

↑ Bodo Hechelhammer (Hrsg.): The Federal Intelligence Service and his Sankt-Georgs-Medaille (= Federal Intelligence Service [Hrsg.]: Communications of the research and working group "History of the BND" . Volume 5 ). 2nd act. Edition. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-943549-07-2 , pp. 24 ( online [PDF; 2.9 MB ]).

[1] Bodo Hechelhammer (Hrsg.): The Federal Intelligence Service and his Sankt-Georgs-Medaille (= Federal Intelligence Service [Hrsg.]: Communications of the research and working group "History of the BND" . Volume 5 ). 2nd act. Edition. Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-943549-07-2 , pp. 24 ( online [PDF; 2.9 MB ]).