Social Welfare Decoration

Social Welfare Decoration; Ehrenzeichen für deutsche Volkspflege
	The four classes of the decoration
	Awarded by Nazi Germany
Country	Nazi Germany
Type	Civil Award
Awarded for	Merits in the field of welfare, Winterhilfswerk or the care of sick and wounded
Status	Obsolete
Statistics
Established	1 May 1939
Precedence
Equivalent	German Red Cross Decoration
Next (lower)	Medal of Social Welfare

The Social Welfare Decoration (German: Ehrenzeichen für deutsche Volkspflege) was a German Civil Award created by Adolf Hitler on 1 May 1939 for services in the social sector. The decoration was issued in three classes and was awarded for a wide variety of service, in the social sector, to the German state. Qualifying service would have been with Winterhilfswerk, National Socialist People's Welfare, medical and rescue work, or care of foreign and ethnic Germans. As a replacement for the German Red Cross Decoration, it was conferred in four classes consisting of a white-enameled gold Balkenkreuz with Reich eagle and swastika. A "Medal of Social Welfare" was also issued for lesser degrees of service, not warranting the higher presentation of a class award.

The main requirement for the award was that the service rendered should be to the benefit of the civil population. Reinhard Heydrich was awarded the decoration for his running of the Gestapo in the 1930s and for providing "security" to the German people. The infamous Doctor Josef Mengele was also awarded the decoration in 1941, for providing medical services to wounded soldiers and civilians alike on the battlefields of the Eastern Front.

Holders of the Social Welfare Decoration First Class with Diamonds

gollark: I'm staying at home and live in the middle of nowhere anyway, so I can hardly *check*.

gollark: The UK is going for a mostly-lockdown, though I have no idea how well it's enforced.

gollark: If it gets worse past the peak, then that's just not the peak.

gollark: Hopefully as technology improves over time it'll be quicker to make vaccines for novel virii, at least?

gollark: Yes, that's because people are trying to reduce the spread of coronavirus because of closing said blocks.

External links

Red Cross and Social Welfare Decorations

Bibliography

Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig (1991). The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. Macmillan, New York. ISBN 0-02-897502-2

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