Kampfordern Für Verdienste um Volk und Vaterland

[jkeegen]

I've been paging through my newly arrived copy of Armee für Frieden und Sozialismus and saw a brief passage that attracted my interest. It's a paragraph that describes how three Soldaten in 1979 were awarded the KVVV in bronze. Two of them were awarded it for helping to prevent a fire at a power plant while the third prevented the collapse of a "conveyor bridge" at a coal mine.
I find the passage interesting for a few reasons. It's evidence of the fact that conscripts often worked in civilian industries during their service period. It also is informative to read of two specific examples of why the KVVV was awarded. It's amazing to think that the three Soldaten, who probably never would have anticipated being awarded any medal during their 18 months, ended up having a relatively high ribbon to wear on their uniform tunics.
I'll include the original wording for those that can read German (unlike myself).

Um so höher zu bewerten waren die Taten von drei Soldaten, die im Januar 1979 durch entschlossenen und mutigen Einsatz schwerwiegende Havarien verhüteten. Die Soldaten Jürgen Große und Wigbert Richardt vom Truppenteil "Thomas Müntzer" verhinderten den Ausbruch eines Brandes im Kraftwerk Boxberg und damit einen Schaden, der bewirkt hätte, daß eine Stadt wie Dresden etwa vier Tage ohne Strom gewesen wäre. Der Soldat Peter Lehninger vom truppenteil "John Schehr" rettete im Braunkohletagebau Jänschwalde die Förderbrücke F60 vor dem Absturz, indem er durch den Ausfall der Sicherungsautomatik der kritische Punkt der zulässigen Hangneigung bereits überschritten war. Außer dem Ausfall der Förderleistung, der in jenen Tagen besonders katastrophale Folgen gehabt hätte, wäre ein unmittelbarer Schaden von ca. 500 million Mark entstanden. Die drei Soldaten wurden mit dem Kampforden "Für Verdienste um Volk und Vaterland" in Bronze ausgezeichnet

[ehrentitle]

The irony is that soldiers generally disliked these mandatory periods of work in civilian industry. Many times they were assigned to the most dangerous work without proper training or safety equipment. They were also not paid on the same level as the civilians working the same jobs.

From Requiem for an Army by Dale Herspring relating to the Strike in Beelitz on New Year's day 1990, "The essence of the problem was that of the 120,000-odd members of the NVA, some 21,000 were working in the civilian sector. Soldiers found it hard to accept the fact that instead of reporting to factories near their homes, they were being set all over the country to do civilian work. For military service work that would be understandable, but they were being treated as factory workers in uniform."