Meister des Sports, medal and document

[SirHarry1]

Hi everyone,
Here is my latest aquisition, a not so common award "Meister des Sports" from 1974. Consisting of the medal in a red case and the citation in original folder.
I am thinking of selling it since its not really my point of interest so check the stand every once in a while.
For now, enjoy the pics.
Harry

[SirHarry1]

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[SirHarry1]

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[SirHarry1]

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[SirHarry1]

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[Ralph P]

Harry - Very nice!!! Just like the one in volume II figure 539. :-)

[Ralph P]

Harry - To follow up with my last post. The quality of these documents is very nice, especially the way they used the raised lettering.

[Gordon Craig]

Ralph,

Your medal and documents on page 454 in Vol II are not quite the same as Harry's. Your document is the "Verdienter Meister des Sport" while Harry's is the Meister des Sport. The obverse of both medals show the profile of Werner Seelenbinder but the obverse is different. The obverse of your medal will say "Verdienter Meister des Sport" in three lines while the obverse of Harry's will say "Meister des Sport" in two lines. The "Verdienter Meister des Sport" is gold coloured while the "Meister des Sport" is silver coloured. They were both instituted on the same day: 22-07-1954.

Werner Seelenbinder was an interesting person. He was a wrestler who competed for Germany internationally and in the Olympics. He became a member of the KPD in the mid 20s after competing in a sports competition in Moscow. In the mid 30s he was banned from wretling for 15 months for refusing to gve the NAZI salute after winning in a competition. He became involved with the Urig resistance group and was arrested and imprisoned for this by the GESTAPO in 1942. In 1944 he was tried and convicted of treason and was beheaded in Brandenburg prison that year.
Many sports facilities in East Germany were named after him but these were all renamed after reunification. This has been a very contentious issue within Germany and I understand that at least one sports venue has been renamed in his honour.

Regards,

Gordon

[speedytop]

Hi,

I think, that it is interesting to know, that the Meister des Sports was normally given only once, the Verdienter Meister des Sports could be awarded several times.

For example a female athlete with German (DDR) records, DDR and European championships, world record in a relay, 4 olympic medals (1 Go, 2 Si, 1 Br) etc.
She had 6 Verdienter Meister des Sports (2 of them in my collection), but only 1 Meister des Sports (in my collection).

Uwe

[Gordon Craig]

Uwe,

Thanks for adding that piece of information that I had left out of my post. Interesting that you have two Verdienter Meister des Sports to the same person. To know that you must have the accompanying documents. Very nice to have. What years were they awarded? I am interested in the finish on the medals as the material the medal was made of, and the finish applied, changed over the years.

Regards,

Gordon

[speedytop]

Gordon,

the two Verdienter Meister des Sports are from 1978 (European championship) and 1980 (olympic medals)

Uwe

[Ralph P]

Thanks for the updated thread.

[Gordon Craig]

Uwe,

Thanks for the information on these two medals. Impressive medals to own.

Regards,

Gordon

[SirHarry1]

Thanks for all your comments and the very valuable information. I was aware that there were the two different medals, but not that the one I have could only be awarded once while the other one could be awarded multiple times.

Harry

[Gordon Craig]

Harry,

You are welcome. The research is the best part after the hunt!

Regards,

Gordon