Medal of Merit of Civil Defense
The Medal of Merit for Civil Defense was a state award of the German Democratic Republic , which was initially donated on September 16, 1970 in the three stages of bronze , silver and gold . They were awarded to members and collectives of the civil defense of the GDR, but also to citizens of the GDR as well as to persons from foreign socialist brother states, companies and institutions. Prerequisites for the award were special merits in increasing operational readiness, in education and training, and also in maintaining and further developing the technical equipment of the ZV. However, their number of awards was initially limited. Until 1977, only 30 gold, 50 silver and 150 bronze grades could be awarded annually, from 1978 onwards there was no limit.
Appearance and wearing style
The bronze, silver-plated or gold-plated medal with a diameter of 34 mm shows the coat of arms of the civil defense in the middle on its obverse , which is surrounded by the semicircular inscription: MERIT MEDAL. Under the coat of arms of the ZV two oak leaves can be seen with the ends facing each other, which, when bent slightly upwards, form the connection or the end of the inscription. The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, shows the large state coat of arms of the GDR in the middle. The medal was worn on a pentagonal pentagonal 24 mm wide malino-red clasp, in the middle of which a 6 mm wide black, red and gold central stripe was woven. In order to underline a visual differentiation of the awarded level, there is an additional 0.8 mm wide vertical edge strip on both sides of the ribbon, which is 1.5 mm from the hem and for the bronze level red, for the silver level white and for the gold level golden yellow is. The interim clasp corresponds to the same design and, like the medal, was worn on the upper left side of the chest at the highest awarded level.
Individual evidence
- ^ Frank Bartel: Awards of the German Democratic Republic. With recordings by Jürgen Karpinski. Military Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1979, p. 167.