German Order (decoration)
Encyclopedia
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
posthumously to Reichsminister Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure, the founder of Organisation Todt. He died in a plane crash during World War II.- Life :Todt was born in Pforzheim to a father who owned a small factory...
at his funeral in February, 1942. A second posthumous award of the German Order was given to SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
at his funeral in June of that same year.
Cynics called the award the "dead hero order" as it was almost always awarded posthumously. The only two persons who received the German Order who survived the war and its consequences were Konstantin Hierl
Konstantin Hierl
Konstantin Hierl was a major figure in the administration of Nazi Germany. He was the head of the Reichsarbeitsdienst and an associate of Adolf Hitler before he came to power.Hierl was born in Parsberg, Bavaria...
and Arthur Axmann.
The German Order was originally to be awarded in three grades, but only the neck order (the highest grade) was ever awarded. This award ranks the second rarest award in the Third Reich (second only to the National Prize for Art and Science
German National Prize for Art and Science
The German National Prize for Art and Science was an award created by Adolf Hitler in 1937 as a replacement for the Nobel Prize . The award was designed by Müller-Erfurt and created in the form of a pendant studded with diamonds...
). The holders of this award were supposed to form a confraternity.
Adolf Hitler viewed this award as his personal decoration to be bestowed only upon those whose services to the state and party he deemed worthy. For this reason, plus the fact that the reverse of the medal bears a facsimile of his signature, it was also informally known as the 'Hitler Order'.
There were in all eleven confirmed recipients of this award between 1942 and 1945. According to some documents, the order was intended to be awarded to Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
, but this was never done.
Confirmed recipients and date of award
- Fritz TodtFritz TodtFritz Todt was a German engineer and senior Nazi figure, the founder of Organisation Todt. He died in a plane crash during World War II.- Life :Todt was born in Pforzheim to a father who owned a small factory...
(posthumous), February 12, 1942 - Reinhard HeydrichReinhard HeydrichReinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
(posthumous), June 9, 1942 - Adolf HühnleinAdolf HühnleinAdolf Hühnlein was a German soldier and Nazi Party official. He was the Korpsführer of the National Socialist Motor Corps, the NSKK, from 1934 until his death in 1942....
(posthumous), June 21, 1942 - Viktor LutzeViktor LutzeViktor Lutze was the commander of the Sturmabteilung succeeding Ernst Röhm as Stabschef.-Early life:...
(posthumous), May 8, 1943 - Adolf WagnerAdolf WagnerAdolf Wagner was a German soldier and high-ranking Nazi Party official born in Algrange, Alsace-Lorraine.He served in World War I as an officer in the German Army...
(posthumous) April 17, 1944 - Josef BürckelJosef BürckelJoseph Bürckel was a German politician and a member of the German parliament...
(committed suicide September 28, 1944), October 3, 1944 - Rudolf SchmundtRudolf SchmundtRudolf Schmundt was an officer in the German Army during World War II.-Biography:Schmundt was born in Metz and served as a Lieutenant during the World War I...
(posthumous), October 7, 1944 - Konstantin HierlKonstantin HierlKonstantin Hierl was a major figure in the administration of Nazi Germany. He was the head of the Reichsarbeitsdienst and an associate of Adolf Hitler before he came to power.Hierl was born in Parsberg, Bavaria...
, February 24, 1945 - Karl HankeKarl HankeKarl August Hanke was an official of the National Socialist German Workers Party . He served as governor of Lower Silesia from 1941 to 1945 and as the final Reichsführer-SS for a few days in 1945.- Early life :Hanke was born in Lauban in Silesia, on 24 August 1903, the son of a locomotive...
(killed during a POW escape attempt at a transport, June 8, 1945), April 12, 1945 - Karl HolzKarl Holz (Gauleiter)Karl Holz was the NSDAP Gauleiter of Gau Franconia and an SA Gruppenführer.He was the fifth child born to a heliographer also named Karl Holz and finished Volksschule and an apprenticeship as a salesman, working thereafter as a clerk.Between 1915 and 1918 he served at the front in the First World...
(killed in action April 20, 1945), April 19, 1945 - Artur AxmannArtur AxmannArtur Axmann was the German Nazi leader of the Hitler Youth from 1940 through war's end in 1945.-Early life:Axmann was born in Hagen on 18 February 1913...
, April 28, 1945