✚10827✚ German WW1 Brunswick War Merit Cross II. Class post WW2 made

Original German post WW2 made Brunswick War Merit Cross II. Class, VERY NICE CONDITION - POST WW2 MADE EXAMPLE, HARD TO FIND - REALLY GOOD AND RARE PIECE ON GENUINE RIBBON

FEW FACTS ABOUT POST WW2 MADE IMPERIAL GERMAN & FOREIGN AWARDS:

After WW2 wear and display of former Nazi decorations were strictly prohibited in Germany. As Germany split apart into East and West Germany, each of these new countries issued directives concerning the status of former awards and decorations of Nazi Germany. Within East Germany, these awards were all abolished with a new era of German Communist decorations created to take their place. However, in West Germany, pre 1933 issued awards were fully accepted to wear & display, therefore these awards (including foreign awards) were continuously produced after the end of the war by major manufacturers, such as Steinhauer & Lück, Deumer or Souval. In 1957 the West German government authorised replacement Iron Crosses with an Oak Leaf Cluster in place of the swastika, similar to the Iron Crosses of 1813, 1870, and 1914, which could be worn by World War II Iron Cross recipients. The 1957 law also authorised de-Nazified versions of most other World War II–era decorations (except those specifically associated with Nazi Party organizations, such as SS Long Service medals, or with the expansion of the German Reich, such as the medals for the annexation of Austria, the Sudetenland, and the Memel region). 

HISTORY OF THE AWARD:

Brunswick War Merit Cross, II class, on combatant ribbon (BRAUNSCHWEIG - Kriegsverdienstkreuz, II. Klasse), 1914-1918 - Bronze cross pattée with loop for ribbon suspension; the face with the letters ‘EA’ centrally for Duke Ernst August, oak leaves to either side, the Brunswick crown above, the date ‘1914’ below; the reverse inscribed ‘Für’, ‘Verdienst im’, ‘Kriege’ (For Merit in War) on the upper, central and lower arms respectively. The Cross was instituted by Duke Ernst August on 23 October 1914, initially in one class, for merit in action and to be awarded regardless of rank. It is often known as the ‘Ernst August Cross’. On 20 March 1918, a first class of the Cross was created in pinback form, the present Cross becoming the second class, thus mirroring the main awards of other German states, such as the Prussian Iron Cross. The Duchy had a population of less than half a million people and the Cross is not one of the more frequently encountered German decorations.