Description
Here is your chance to pick up a very nice Social Welfare Merit Cross 2nd class. This decoration was manufactured by Godet and has crisp enamel of the highest quality. This example is more vaulted than the typical example and likely done by the original wearer. Minor discoloration to the one arm as can be seen in the photos but it’s nothing major and may clean up. A nice piece priced right! The Treaty of Versailles stated that the Red Cross had no involvement in military matters, but in April 1933, the Nazi Reich Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick made it clear to Winterfeldt-Mencken, then leader of the German Red Cross, that the DRK would be expected to play its part in supporting the armed forces in any future conflict. In the years after the Nazi takeover, as well as adopting Nazi salutes and symbols, the DRK introduced Nazi ideology into their education. Rescue teams were trained in military conduct, basic concepts of National Socialism, genetics, racial hygiene and demographic policy. More senior staff – doctors, nurses and managers were educated in demographic policy, racial history, racial hygiene, the biology of inheritance and the foundations of genetics. As a preparation for war, the DRK focused on training people to deal with air raids and gas attacks and organised joint exercises with the police and the fire brigades. After 1938 the Red Cross would fall under the Ministry of the Interior’s Social Welfare Organization. Free shipping ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD & I don’t charge PayPal fees like some of the other guys!
