As a postscipt to post # 13 and 15: I checked whether I could find some data on actual award numbers and came up with a few figures in secondary sources:
The Mother's Cross was instituted on 16 December 1938, with the first nationwide award ceremonies scheduled for Mother's Day 1939 (21 May 1939).
With the authorities estimating a total number of 5.5 million eligible women (for all classes of the award combined), the crosses were produced in massive numbers: According to a March 1939 publication, 30,000 Mothers' Crosses were cranked out by Gablonz-based manufactures alone every week. However, besides the 20 manufacturers in Gablonz, some 80 other manufacturers throughout the Reich made these crosses as well, so the actual weekly production would have been several times that number.
Still, this was not sufficient: As it turned out that it would not be possible to manufacture the required number of decorations in time for the first round of award ceremonies, the decision was made to give priority to older recipients. Thus, all women decorated on 21 May 1939 - ca. 3 million - were over 60 years of age. The first official recipient was Mrs. Louise Weidenfeller, 61, of Munich, a mother of eight.
The second round of awards was made on Thanksgiving that year (31 October 1939) and another on Christmas Eve (24 December 1939). Subsequent awards were made annually on Mother's Day from 1940 to 1944.
By 1941, some 4.7 million awards had already been made.
I haven't been able to find a reliable number on total awards made by the end of the war.
A Gold German Mothers Cross for a mother who had eight (8) or more children, along side an Italian Mothers Medal which in this case indicates by the number of bows, that she bore seven (7) children.....
"six italians, dressed in rather unusual diving suits and equipped with materials of laughably little cost have swung the military balance of power in the Mediterranean in favour of the Axis".
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