Foreign Awards on German Medal-Bars

[JensF.]

These are my latest acquisitions from ebay.

4 medal bar with EKII 1914 (maker makred "W.S." for Wagner & Sohn, Berlin), Hindenburg Cross, Long Service Dec for 9 years and the finnish Commemorative Medal for the War of Liberation 1918.

Finnish awards are very rare on german medal-bars.

[Klaus O.]

Jens,

Simple but very nice, well done!

Here is my "Finnish" medal bar...

Ciao,

Claudio

[JensF.]

Blue backing. The german "finnish fighters" were the people who brought the swastika to Germany! They formed Freikorps in the 20s who used this symbol. Later as members of the SA and NSDAP they made it their own symbol. Until 1945 the swastika was the legitimate finnish national emblem which had nothing to do with Hitler! Another harmless symbol abused by the "man with the beard".

[JensF.]

Very nice Claudio! Thanks!

This blue paper bag came together with the medal-bar. I suspect it was the package from the maker of the bar.

[JensF.]

Here is a closeup of the mark on the finnish medal. I read in an older thread that this is the mark of Sporrong & Co. from Stockholm. Why they made finnish medals... who knows...

[JensF.]

This is the second bar I got. EKII 1914 with maker "LR", Hindenburg Cross with maker "Erbe" (????) and the Bulgarian Bravery Cross (4th class???).

[JensF.]

Black backing:

[eschena]

Re: Sporrong

Hi:

>I read in an older thread that this is the mark of Sporrong & Co. from Stockholm. Why they made finnish medals... who knows...

Finland at one time was a Swedish province until it became a Russian principality in the 19th century then eventually gaining its independence in 1918. Because of the close connection to Sweden, signs are in Swedish and Finnish.

I know that the principal jeweler in Finland was/is A. Tillander, but a LOT of insignia was also made in Sweden probably because of the close association between the two neighbors and the quality, too.

Hope that helps a little!

[JensF.]

Thanks!

[AOK4]

A Finnish unit, trained in Germany during the war and probably also engaged on the Eastern Front, fought for the independence of Finland, Jäger-Bataillon 27. There were also a few smaller German units there to help the Fins.

Jan

[JensF.]

I remember there was a complete Landwehr-Division which fought in Finland, but I forgot which unit it was, but they had about 13000 men.

[Peter J.]

Re: Sporrong

Here are the manufacturers of the finnish medals from 1918.
All Freedom Crosses of 1918 were made by Otto Oertel in Berlin,
The Freedom-Medal of 1918 by Sporrong&Co in Stockholm.

The Freedom Crosses of 1939 were made by A.Tillander and
AB Ordensfabriken in Helsinki. The medals by Tillander.

The Freedom Crosses of 1941 were made by AB Ordensfabriken,
Finska Guldsmeds AB and A.Barck in Helsinki. The Freedom Medal
and the Medal of Merit by AB Ordensfabriken and Finska Guld-
smeds AB

Regards
Peter

[JensF.]

Very interesting. I've never heard about the maker Oertel. Maybe the finnish medals were the only medals he ever produced.

[Fred Borgmann]

Oertel

Oertel made a lot of private medals and shooting medals in Germany in the early 1900's. He did some really beautiful work. Cheers, Fred

[jani_tiainen]

German Orders in Finnish groups

Dear friends,

The Crosses of the Liberty (at least 1st patch in 1918) were made at the Ziech, Berlin.

Invitations to tenders were sent to Otto Oertel and John Wagner & Sohne (which offer was twice as expensive as Ziech's). In earlier books Oertel has been named as manufacturer by E.F.Wrede (who wrote the first book about Finnish Orders), but that was not correct information.

The ribbons were manufactured by Max Kust.

And medals at Sporrong, Stockholm.

These foreign manufacturers were used because of quite large number of orders to be made. In Finland we did not have capacity to manufacture these during civil war.

There were something 13000 Germans in Finland to help "white"Finnish at the end of Civil war. The regiment was called Baltic Division and was under command General Rudiger von der Goltz (pic attached, w/ 1st class Cross of Liberty w/diamonds - underneath the Pour le Merite) - Goltz and Admiral Hugo Meyer were the only recipients of that Special class. Kaiser Wilhel II received The Grand Cross of the Liberty with Diamonds.

Most common medal in German bars is the Liberation war medal, which was basically awarded to every German in Finland - though some medals of Liberty are seen. Crosses of Liberty 1918 are RARE with German bars. I'll buy that one pictured above

Cheers,

Jani