The German Eagle Order Regulations and award certificates

[marisca lrommel]

In 1939 a special degree limited to only 16 recipients was also authorized as the top category: Grand Cross of the German Eagle Order in Gold.

This is the award certificate awarded to Finland's leader Mannerheim

[marisca lrommel]

On January 5, 1944, new regulations are published in Reichsgessetzblatt nº1 of 1944 in which there are several changes.

There are 6 classes and two medals, all with and without swords. In the award certificate the phrase "IN NAMEN DES DEUTSCHEN REICHES" is changed to "IN NAMEN DES DEUTSCHEN VOLKES", although this denomination already appears in previous concessions as we can see in the award certificate dated in 1942.

In the new award certificate the word "Stufe" no longer appears, which is replaced by the word "Klasse".

[marisca lrommel]

1-Grand Cross (In this case an unfilled example is shown)

[marisca lrommel]

2-1St German Eagle Order (Erste Klasse).

It is curious because this award certificate still showed the name "Erster Stufe" instead of "Erster Klasse" as indicated in the regulations ... Did the Foreign Ministry fail to print and interpret the regulations?

[marisca lrommel]

3-2Nd Class (Zweiter Klasse): Order with Star (Unfilled example)

[marisca lrommel]

4-3Rd German Eagle order (Before first class, neck order). Dritter Klasse

I do not have an image for this category in its 1943 version.

It must show "IN NAMEN DES DEUTSCHES VOLKES" and "DRITTER STUFE" ... as in the example of the first class, these award certificates were still showing the "Stufe" denomination "instead of" Klasse "

[marisca lrommel]

5-German eagle Order 4Nd Class (Vierter Klasse)

Although the ordinances clearly stipulate that what was once a second class now becomes a fourth class "Vierter Klasse" in the awards of this category still "Zweiter Stufe" still appears.

Unfulfilled example in the image

[marisca lrommel]

6-Fifth class class of the German Eagle Order (Fünfter Klasse). Formerly considered third class

As in previous cases it still shows "Stufe" instead of "Klasse". It also does not show the category "Fünfter" (Fifth) as it should but continues to show "Dritter" (Third)

[marisca lrommel]

7-German Eagle Order Merit Medal (Deutsche Verdienstmedaille).

The medals are made with Latin characters in the back legend and a lower category made of bronze appears.

I have never seen an award certificate of the German Eagle Order merit medal in silver with swords called "IN THE NAMEN DES DEUTSCHEN VOLKES".

All I have seen are dated around 1939.

I have also not seen any without swords and have never seen any of the bronze medal


I'm done for now. You can already comment. Thank you for your patience

[dastardly]

German Eagle Award Documents

Marisca,
This is a wonderful layout of award documents for the German Eagle Order that has always confused me. Thank you so much for your time and effort in doing this. The documents with the header "Im Namen des Deutschen Reiches" were clear to me, but the second iteration of documents with the header "Im Namen des Deutschen Volkes" was confusing to me until I realized that those sets of documents came in two versions: One naming the award "das Verdienstkreuz des Ordens vom Deutschen Adler" and the second version naming the award "den Deutschen Adlerorden". As with many German award documents, the use of different/updated variations is hard to put a fixed implementation date on because many offices used the older documents until they ran out of them or up until they received the updated versions. Correct me if I am wrong, because the regulations did change the level of the award from "Stufe" to "Klasse", but I have never seen an award document to the German Eagle Order using the word "Klasse". I will attach some images that I have in my library of document versions not yet depicted in this thread. Again, thank you for your great explanation of these award documents, Chris

[dastardly]

1St German Eagle Order (Erste Klasse) in the Verdienstkreuz version

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1St German Eagle Order (Erste Klasse) with Swords in the Verdienstkreuz version

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2nd German Eagle Order (Zweite Klasse) in the Verdienstkreuz version

[dastardly]

Fifth class (Fünfter Klasse) of the German Eagle Order with swords den Deutschen Adlerorden version

[dastardly]

German Eagle Order Merit Medal (Deutsche Verdienstmedaille)