Description
Social Welfare Medal 3rd Class
The Social Welfare Decoration (Ehrenzeichen für deutsche Volkspflege) was established by Adolf Hitler as a civil award for services in the social sector on 1 May 1939.
The decoration was issued in three classes and was awarded for a variety of services to the German state, such as Winterhilfswerk, National Socialist People’s Welfare, medical and rescue work, or care of foreign and ethnic Germans.
The medal replaced the German Red Cross Decoration. The primary criterion for the award was that the service rendered should benefit the civil population. Reinhard Heydrich received the decoration for his administration of the Gestapo in the 1930s and for providing security to the German population. Josef Mengele was also awarded the decoration in 1941 for providing medical services to wounded soldiers and civilians on the Eastern Front battlefields.
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.
