Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Das Ehrenkreuz des Weltkriegs 1914 1918 [The Honor Cross of World War 1914/1918) awarded for non-combatant service in the German Army during the First World War. The award was established by President Paul von Hindenburg, on July 13, 1934. This was the first official WWI service medal of the Third Reich, often referred to by an unofficial name, Hindenburg Cross. Hindenburg, Field Marshal of German forces during WWI, appointed Hitler as Chancellor in January 1933, and soon a Nazi dictatorship ruled the country.
- Date
-
commemoration:
1914-1918
issue: 1934 July 13-1944
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ursula Levy
- Markings
- front, center, embossed: 1914 / 1918
reverse, bottom, embossed: 0.14
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Military Insignia
- Category
-
Medals
- Object Type
-
Medals, German (lcsh)
- Physical Description
- Bronze colored iron cross pattee medal with a raised edge and a recessed field on the front with embossed dates within an oak leaf wreath with a tied ribbon. On the flat reverse is a stamped maker's mark. At the top of the medal is a bail with a metal ring and a ribbon with white, black and red stripes.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 2.500 inches (6.35 cm) | Width: 2.750 inches (6.985 cm)
- Materials
- overall : metal, ribbon
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The medal was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by Ursula Levy.
- Record last modified:
- 2023-09-20 14:25:23
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn556196
Also in Ursula Levy collection
The collection consists of a medal, correspondence, documents, and photographs relating to the experiences of George and Ursula Levy, and their parents Max and Lucia, of Lippstadt, Germany, before and during the Holocaust in Germany and the Netherlands where George and Ursula were sent in 1939, and later deported to Bergen Belsen concentration camp, and after the war when George and Ursula returned to the Netherlands and then immigrated to Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1947.
Ursula Levy papers
Document
Documents, correspondence and photographs illustrating the experiences of Max and Lucia Levy and their children George and Ursula Levy, from Lippstadt, Germany. Max, a World War I veteran was arrested in 1938 with his brother Ludwig and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp; they both perished as a result of their imprisonment. Lucia sent her children in 1939 to Holland where they were taken in by Joseph and Agnes van Mackelenbergh and then in St. Jacob's convent in Eersal, Holland. George and Ursula were denounced and deported to Vught and Westerbork concentration camps and then to Bergen Belsen concentration camp in February 1944, where they were imprisoned until April 10, 1945. The Germans then loaded the children along with 700 other prisoners on to a transport that kept changing routes to avoid Allied bombings and was finally liberated by the Russians in Troebitz, Germany on April 23, 1945. George and Ursula were reunited with the Van Mackelenburghs. Lucia perished in Stutthof concentration camp in August 1944. The children immigrated to Chicago in 1947 to live with their maternal aunt and uncle, the Muellers.
