Customs Border Guard Decoration
The Customs Border Guard Decoration was a National Socialist award that was given by Adolf Hitler to officers of the Customs Border Guard between 1939 and 1945. Wearing the badge is only allowed today in the so-called 57 version without National Socialist symbols.
In National Socialism
prehistory
In 1938 the Customs Border Guard (ZGS) took part in the connection between Austria and the Sudetenland . In the respective border sections, the alarm was often only a few hours before the invasion, all tasks were completed, an often weeks-long deployment away from home and the establishment of customs structures on site. While other security organs such as the Wehrmacht , the police , the SS, etc. were able to award their members their own merit awards, the ZGS had nothing comparable. This led to a certain resentment within the Reich finance administration.
Foundation, endowment
On February 17, 1939, at the request of the Reich Ministry of Finance , Hitler approved the foundation of the Customs Border Guard Decoration. The foundation, statutes and implementation ordinance were published on April 20, 1939 in the Reichsgesetzblatt . The internal regulations of the Reich Finance Administration were not issued until June or November 1939.
The badge of honor was made of bronze. The national emblem was framed by an acanthus wreath that was open at the top , and the inscription for faithful services in customs border guards was on the back in an acanthus wreath . It was worn on the left side of the chest on a cornflower-blue ribbon, on which the emblem of the national emblem was embroidered, framed by an acanthus wreath open at the top. There was only one level of award.
Award terms
The foundation was established by the Reich Finance Administration with the use of the ZGS in the integration of the above-mentioned areas. Nevertheless, the award was usually purely dependent on the length of service and could only be given to civil servants. Even if the ZGS consisted mainly of emergency workers (auxiliary border workers - HiGa's) before the outbreak of war, this group of people was obviously excluded from the award.
The badge of honor could be awarded to:
- Civil servants in higher service after four years of border service
- Civil servants in higher service after four years of border service
- Middle-class civil servants - pensioners - after four years of border service
- Middle service civil servants - civilian candidates - after eight years of border service
- Proven processor of customs border security matters
- Men who have made a special contribution to the customs border guard
Recipients could only be the officials of the border inspection posts, district customs commissariats and those in the main customs offices and in the border departments of the regional tax authorities dealing with border matters. After the annexation of Austria and Danzig , the corresponding service periods were taken into account, but the badge of honor could only be awarded after at least one year of service in the ZGS of the Reich Ministry of Finance.
Awards
The exact number of awards is not known, but is likely to be in the thousands. The first awards were made in November 1939, when Waldemar Zipperer and Xaver Rieger and their two superiors who were involved in the arrest of the Hitler assassin Georg Elser received the award.
Today: Anti-Constitutional Badge
According to the law on titles, medals and decorations of July 26, 1957, wearing the award in the Federal Republic of Germany is only permitted without National Socialist emblems.
See also
- Service award (Wehrmacht)
- SS service award
- Police Service Award
- Service award of the NSDAP
- Service award for the Reich Labor Service
- Loyalty Badge of Honor
literature
- Doehle: The awards of the Greater German Empire , Patzwall, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-931533-43-3
- Foundation decree of the Customs Border Guard Decoration of February 17, 1939 in the Reichsgesetzblatt, page 786
- Implementation ordinance of the Customs Border Guard Decoration of February 17, 1939 in the Reich Law Gazette, page 788
Web links
- Customs Border Guard Decoration on www.zoll Grenzschutz.de
- Verfassungsschutz.de: Right-wing extremism: Symbols, signs and prohibited organizations (PDF) ( Memento from January 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
