✚8774✚ German Kyffhauser Bund post WW1 Warrior League Merit Cross II. Class

Original German Kyffhauser Warrior League Service Cross II. Class - WW1, VERY NICE CONDITION, ON NEW RIBBON, VERY NICE EXAMPLE, MAKER MARKED: "H. TIMM - BERLIN"

HISTORY OF THE AWARD:

Kyffhäuser Cross of Merit (Kyffhäuser-Verdienst-Kreuz) by H. Timm of Berlin - Large silvered metal cross pattée with panelled arms, with the initials ‘PLKV’ (for Preussischer Landes Kriegern Verband = Prussian State Veterans Association) between the arms, with loop for ribbon suspension bearing maker’s mark ‘H.TIMM BERLIN’; the face with a circular central medallion bearing the radiant Kyffhäuserdenkmal (Kyffhäuser Monument); the reverse with a circular central medallion inscribed in Gothic script ‘Für Verdienst im Kriegervereins Wesen’ (for Merit in War Veterans Association); diameter cca 44 mm. The Cross was instituted after World War I to recognise meritorious service in the Preußischer Landes Kriegern Verband, equivalent of the British and American Legions, in its philanthropic, charitable and social work. The Kyffhäuser Monument was built in 1890-1896 on the summit of the Kyffhäuser Mountain in Thuringia at the suggestion of the 19th Century German War Veterans Federation. Kyffhäuserbund (Kyffhäuser League) is an umbrella organization for War Veterans' and Reservists' Associations in Germany. It owes its name to the Kyffhäuser Monument (German: Kyffhäuserdenkmal), a memorial built on the summit of the 473 m high Kyffhäuser Mountain near Bad Frankenhausen in the state of Thuringia in central Germany. The Kyffhäuserbund's origins lie in a section of the Deutscher Kriegerbund (German Warrior League) that established a league in 1900 that would unite the formerly scattered German war veterans' associations. Some of these organizations had been already administrating the maintenance of the memorial together. The league was initially named "Kyffhäuserbund der deutschen Landeskriegerverbände" (Kyffhäuser League of the German Countries' Warriors Associations), a name that became later abbreviated to "Kyffhäuserbund". By 1913 this umbrella organization had already 2.8 million war veterans as its members and it had become one of the largest societies in Germany. During the time of the German Empire the Kyffhäuserbund was instrumentalized against the growing social democratic movement in Germany. The difficult circumstances of World War I's postwar years led to a significant shrinking of the veterans' associations and their role. In 1921, during the Weimar Republic, this organization shed its federal structure and centralized itself under a common leadership. Following this step it changed its name to "Deutscher Reichskriegerbund 'Kyffhäuser' e.V." (German Warriors Association 'Kyffhäuser').