Unbestowed awards of Nazi Germany were a series of political, civil, and military decorations which were either under design, projected for design, or had been approved for issuance but never bestowed, when the Second World War ended in 1945 resulting in the fall of Nazi Germany.[1]
Awards and Decorations of Nazi Germany were military, political and civilian decorations that were bestowed between 1923 and 1945, first by the Nazi Party and later the state of Nazi Germany.
The highest military award of Nazi Germany during World War II was the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross. The award was to be presented to the most successful German general or admiral of the entire war once victory was achieved. A prototype award was designed, but due to Germany's defeat the award was never issued. A similar award for meritorious service, the German Cross in Gold With Diamonds, was intended for presentation for extreme feats of military accomplishment during war; a handful of the awards were manufactured, but none were presented.
The Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest military decoration of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire. It was considered a senior decoration to the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross.
The German Cross was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 28 September 1941. It was awarded in two divisions: gold for repeated acts of bravery or achievement in combat; and silver for distinguished non-combat war service. The German Cross in Gold ranked higher than the Iron Cross First Class but below the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, while the German Cross in Silver ranked higher than the War Merit Cross First Class with Swords but below the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords.
Rudolf Hess's proposed classes of the German Order
For general service in war, Nazi Germany issued the War Merit Cross, the highest degree of which was the Golden Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross. A version with swords was reserved for direct actions in combat while the Knight's Cross without swords was granted for meritorious service in support of war operations. No awards of the Golden Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with swords were ever made. The award with swords is shown in fiction as it appears worn by Hans Landa in the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds.
The War Merit Cross was a decoration of Germany during the Second World War, which could be awarded to military personnel and civilians alike. By the end of the war it was issued in four degrees; and had a related civil decoration. It was reissued in 1957 by the Bundeswehr in a de-Nazified version for veterans.
Standartenführer Hans Landa is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 2009 Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. He is portrayed by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. For his performance, Waltz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Best Actor Award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, among others.
Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 black comedy war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Til Schweiger, and Mélanie Laurent. The film tells the alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's leadership, one planned by Shosanna Dreyfus (Laurent), a young French Jewish cinema proprietor, and the other by a team of Jewish American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt). Christoph Waltz co-stars as Hans Landa, an SS colonel tracking down Raine's group and who is connected to Shosanna's past. The film's title was inspired by Italian director Enzo G. Castellari's macaroni combat film The Inglorious Bastards (1978).
A "Star of the Social Welfare Decoration" is mentioned in Nazi award regulations as an authorized award, but it is unknown if the decoration was ever presented. Previous holders of the "Grand Cross of the Red Cross" were eligible to exchange their decorations once the Social Welfare Decoration had replaced the previously issued Red Cross award in 1940.
The Social Welfare Decoration was a German Civil Award created by Adolf Hitler on 1 May 1939 for services in the social sector. The decoration was issued in three classes and was awarded for a wide variety of service, in the social sector, to the German state. Qualifying service would have been with Winterhilfswerk, National Socialist Volk Welfare, medical and rescue work, or care of foreign and ethnic Germans. As a replacement for Red Cross awards, it was conferred in four classes consisting of a white-enameled gold Balkenkreuz with Reich eagle and swastika. A "Medal of Social Welfare" was also issued for lesser degrees of service, not warranting the higher presentation of a class award.
The German Order in its original form was to consist of several degrees the lowest of which was to be the Golden Party Badge followed by a second class medal, first class breast order, and Knight's Cross neck order. The German Order with degrees was proposed originally by Rudolf Hess, but was never approved. In the end, only the Knight's Cross degree became an actual medal and was known simply as the German Order.
The Golden Party Badge was authorised by Adolf Hitler in a decree in October 1933. It was a special award be given to all Nazi Party members who had, as of 9 November 1933, registered numbers from 1 to 100,000 and unbroken Party membership. Other Golden Party Badges were awarded at the discretion of Hitler to certain members of the party who merited special treatment. An identical badge was awarded each year on 30 January to persons who had shown outstanding service to the Nazi Party or State. Only 20,487 men and 1,795 women were actually approved for and awarded the badge.
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician, and a leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) of Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, he served in this position until 1941, when he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom during World War II. He was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace, serving a life sentence until his suicide.
The German Navy issued eight primary war badges, all of which were eligible to be presented "with diamonds" for exceptional combat service. The U-boat War Badge was the only decoration to be issued extensively with diamonds. Three other badges were issued rarely with diamonds (Minesweeper, E-Boat, and Auxiliary Cruiser) while the remainder of the Navy war badges (Destroyer, High Seas, Blockage Runner, and Naval Artillery) were never presented with diamonds.
The following close combat naval badges were further ordered for production, but never presented.
↑ Lumsden, R. (2001). Medals and Decorations of Hitler's Germany. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing Company
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