Hermann-Duncker Medal – Bartell #2807

[Gordon Craig]

Hermann-Duncker Medal – Bartell #2807
There are two issues of this medal; a) bronze, silver coated – 1972-82, & b) iron, nickle plated – 1982-89. The cased medal in my collection is of the 1972-82 issue.

Interimsspange (plastic coated) and medal (silver plated, started with silver sulfide)
The Hermann Duncker Medal was an award from the Free German Trade Union Confederation (FDGB) of the German Democratic Republic (DDR), which was founded in 1972 by the FDGB in one stage. The award was for outstanding achievements in the class-based education of the younger generation in the spirit of socialism.
Appearance and wearing style
The silvered medal with a diameter of 30 mm shows on its obverse in the center the portrait of Hermann Duncker enclosed by the lower semicircular inscription: HERMANN DUNCKER . The reverse of the medal, on the other hand, showed the seven-line inscription: FOR / MERIT / FOR / CLASSIC / EDUCATION / OF / YOUTHand underneath the symbol of the FDGB. The medal was carried on the upper left side of the chest on rectangular 25 mm wide red covered clasp in which on both sides 3 mm from the edge a 3 mm wide blue stripe was woven. The Interimsspange was of the same nature and showed in addition a 10 mm diameter silver miniature of the averse of the medal. I'll post a bio of Hermann Dunker later.

[Gordon Craig]

Hermann Duncker
Hermann Ludwig Rudolph Duncker (born May 24, 1874 in Hamburg , † June 22, 1960 in Bernau near Berlin ) was a German FDGB functionary and rector of the trade union school "Fritz Heckert" .

LIFE

The son of a merchant he studied from 1883 to 1891 at the Gymnasium in Göttingen . From 1893 he studied musicology in Leipzig and became a member of the SPD . In the same year he dropped out of music studies and began a study of economics, history and philosophy, from which he graduated with a doctorate. He then worked in the editorial office of the Leipziger Volkszeitung . In 1898 he married Käte Döll . From 1903 he was a full-time official of the SPD and in 1906 its first migrant teacher. In 1911 he worked at the central school of the party.
Hermann Duncker was co-founder of the Spartakusbund. In 1918 he was one of the founders of the KPD . He was the founder and director of the Berlin Marxist Workers' School and has authored numerous writings. 1927 to 1928 he was head of the education department of the Central Committee of the KPD.

The grave plate for Hermann Duncker in Berlin
Shortly after the seizure of power by the Nazi regime Duncker was arrested in February 1933. He was imprisoned in Spandau and the Brandenburg Prison and released in November 1933.
In 1936 he emigrated to Denmark, in 1937 to Great Britain and in 1938 to France. From there he was interned in Morocco from 1938 to 1941, then he went to the USA. There he belonged to the signatories of the Council for a Democratic Germany .
In May 1947, Duncker returned from the United States to Germany. There, he joined the SED. In September 1947 he became professor and dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Rostock . From 1949 to his death in June 1960 Duncker was a Director of the Union College "Fritz Heckert" in Bernau bei Berlin .
His urn was given a place on the ring wall of the memorial of the socialists in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde.
His daughter Hedwig (1899-1996) became a doctor with her own practice in Berlin-Charlottenburg. His son Wolfgang Duncker (born February 5, 1909) was a victim of Stalin's purges (arrested in 1938, died in 1942 in Gulag); His wife Erika survived with the son Boris (born 1937 in Moscow) as a worker in a tank factory. She returned with her new family in late 1945 to Germany and the SBZ. His older son Karl Duncker (1903-1940) became a psychologist and one of the most famous representatives of Gestalt theory; he took his own life in American exile in 1940.
On June 16, 1953 Hermann Duncker was one of the first people to receive the Order of Karl Marx on 14 June 1955. This was followed by the award of the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold.
Honors by name ceremony
Medals
After Duncker's death, employees in scientific or FDGB institutions were awarded the Hermann Duncker Medal for "outstanding union achievements" .
Road names

Hermann Duncker monument in Rostock
In the district of Berlin-Karlshorst a street was named after him in the GDR era (from 1961); In 1992 the street was given its previous name of Treskowallee.
In Leipzig-Neulindenau there is the Doctor-Hermann-Duncker-Straße. The surrounding area is called "Duncker Quarter".
There is a Hermann-Duncker-Straße
• in Wittenberg
• in Bernau near Berlin and
• in Bad Saarow .
In Tangerhütte there was a Hermann-Duncker-Straße; it was renamed 'Schulstraße' in the 1960s.
School or company name
The current Protestant elementary school Berlin-Lichtenberg was called GDR- Hermann-Duncker-Oberschule .
In Schierke in the Harz there was the FDGB recovery home Hermann Duncker, and one in Heubach, Hildburghausen.
In the Klingenberger settlement Am Sachsenhof there was the FDGB district trade union school Hermann Duncker.
In the Gotha district Siebleben , Gotha IV in GDR times, the Polytechnic High School, which opened in 1982, bore the name POS Hermann Duncker . After the reunification it was renamed after the Gothaer publisher in Justus Perthes high school . Today it is the primary school Gotha-Siebleben .
From the 1970s to 1990 an optical operation in Rathenow was called VEB ophthalmic optics, Hermann Duncker.
In 1984, the former Fla Missile Regiment 16 formed the 41st Fla Missile Brigade (FRBr) of the National People's Army (NVA). This brigade was also awarded the honorary name Hermann Duncker .
Monuments

Hermann Duncker Bernau
In Berlin-Karlshorst there is located, in a small green area near the station Karlshorst and built by the sculptor Walter Howard and erected in 1976 monument that is under protection.
In Rostock there is a monument to Hermann Duncker on the place named after him on the Langen road. This concrete and plastic monument was unveiled in 1977. It was designed by Walter Howard. In the garden of the former district trade union school of the FDGB Hermann Duncker in the Klingenberger settlement Am Sachsenhof there is still a bust of him. A bronze relief with inscription stands in front of his last place of work in Bernau. Photos of the grave marker and statues mentioned above.

[Ralph P]

Gordon - your thread was an interesting read, and your medal appears to have some patina. I like it.

Is the case original to the medal?

[Gordon Craig]

Ralph,

Thanks for the kind words. I am always amazed at how long it takes to do something like my thread here. Good thing I enjoy research!

Regards,

Gordon

[Venturefan260]

Excellent post indeed Gordon, well done!

[Gordon Craig]

Excellent post indeed Gordon, well done!

Thanks for your comments. An important man in German history and especially in the impact he had on the DDR.

Regards,

Gordon

[Mike G.]

Hi Gordon. Very nice informative thread. Your research regarding the subject matter about which initiate threads is very much appreciated. I know it is time consuming, but it greatly enhances the threads you post on the forum. Thank you for the hard work, and thank you for this excellent informative thread, and all of the other similar type threads you have posted in the past.

[speedytop]

Hi,

first two pages of an award document for the Hermann-Duncker-Medaille.

Next a page of the Hermann-Duncker-Schule in Gotha with recognition for good socialist military education and a bonus over 150 Marks.
The name was first only Hermann-Duncker-Schule (1954), next Hermann-Duncker-Oberschule and then "Hermann-Duncker-Schule 10klassige polytechnische Oberschule" (1972). But, see the two different names in the document.

Uwe

[Gordon Craig]

Mike,

Thanks for your supportive words. Research is why I collect!

Uwe,

Thanks for adding the documents from your collection. Your post always appreciated.

Regards,

Gordon

[ehrentitle]

Gordon - Great background on this medal. I have a later version of it that is nickel plated and produced from 1982-89.

[Gordon Craig]

Ehrentitle,

Thanks for your comments.

Regards,

Goordon