Ribbon Bar of Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster

[JasonA]

Got one question as well, what do the yellow stripes on some of the ribbons on the lower row represent?

cheers
Peter

Hi Peter,

Long time no talk! Hope you are well.

A good friend of mine who is an advanced researcher did the identification on this bar. We had a conversation about what you are referencing, although I don't remember all of the particulars (if it were a Luftwaffe bar I would have remembered!).

That said, I do recall him saying to me that he wasn't aware of at least some of these foreign awards that Schuster had earned. Common, though, for her senior ranks. You just won't always know exactly what awards and grades were earned without a completed soldbuch and/or award documents, most of which have either been long separated or lost to time. It's possible that he wanted to have a slightly flashier bar, or its its possible that the shop didn't have the correct ribbon at the moment for his grade, or that the shop made a mistake, or.... Who knows?

I have a grouping to a Luftwaffe general with uniform, award docs, and soldbuch. Even then there is so much information in the soldbuch about the general which includes some enlightening bits about his earned awards (among many other things).

Best,

Jason

[Peter J.]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your elaborated response, I appreciate it. The reason for my inquiry is simple, but it's something that has nagged my brain for a long time and I think this is a good opportunity to bring it up.

The wearing of substitutes for the full sized decorations varies from country to country and although we're discussing ribbon bars, there's an interesting reference in Doele's book. He accounts for these various forms, including the miniature medal bar, which is supposed to be differentiated in class by the system used by many countries. The enclosed section of a Finnish chain is an excellent example of said system i.e. a Commander 2nd cl. with rosette and silver stripe, a Grand Cross with rosette and gold stripe, followed by two Commanders indentical to the first. A Commander 1st cl. (with breast star) would feature a rosette on a stripe with gold on the right side and silver on the left, and a Knight 1st class a single rosette.

I know the mini medal bar by definition isn't a ribbon bar and it's not represented in Rick's article, nor in Mark's ribbon bar book. There are images of Heydich's two-row ribbon bar, but unfortunately it's in black and white, hence it's not possible to identify the stripes. So, are there any other known images in colour out there of German ribbon bars that illustrate said stripes?

One possibility is of course that the yellow stripes on your ribbon bar represent the Grand Cross. He apparently received the Bulgarian Grand Cross, but one of the other was a III.Class, so that doesn't compute. Then again, who can trust Wikipedia! Finally I'd like to emphasize I'm not questening the originality of your ribbon bar, but I'm very interested in the consensus amongst the ribbon bar "guys" of said stripes in conjunction with ribbon bars.

cheers
Peter

[luftkrieg]

These little yellow "wings", usually either side of the rosette, represent the Grand Cross.

Yellow/Yellow = Grand Cross
Yellow/Silver= Grand Officer Cross
Silver/Silver= Commander Cross

Kind regards
Pierce

[Grossadmiral]

Could you please tell me the classes of the Awards in the 2nd row of Admiral Karlgeorg Schuster's ribbon bar?
Thanks.

[JasonA]

Hi,

Most awards followed this hierarchy:

1st Class = Grand Cross
2nd Class = Grand Officer
3rd Class = Commander
4th Class = Officer
5th Class = Knight

So using Pierce’s information below, that should give you what you need.

Best,

Jason