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Patriotic Order of Merit

Field	Value
name	Patriotic Order of Merit
Vaterländischer Verdienstorden
image	GDR Patriotic Order of Merit all 3 classes.jpg
image_size	300px
caption	The 3 classes of the Patriotic Order of Merit
presenter
awarded_for	Special services to the state and to society
status	No longer awarded
established	21 May 1954
lastawarded	1 May 1989
higher	Karl Marx Order
lower	Banner of Labour

Vaterländischer Verdienstorden | post-nominals = The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: Vaterländischer Verdienstorden, or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding contributions to the state and society in various areas of life.

Classes

[[File: Ehrenspange.png|70px]] Honor clasp, in Gold
[[File:GDR Patriotic Order of Merit 1st class ribbon.png|70px]] Gold, 1st class
[[File:GDR Patriotic Order of Merit 2nd class ribbon.png|70px]] Silver, 2nd class
[[File:GDR Patriotic Order of Merit 3rd class ribbon.png|70px]] Bronze, 3rd class

The award

Party chief [[Walter Ulbricht]] awarding [[Karin Janz]] a silver Patriotic Order of Merit in 1968

The official language for the award stipulated it was given "for outstanding merit":

"in the struggle of the German and international labor movement and in the fight against fascism,"
"in the establishment, consolidation and fortification of the German Democratic Republic,"
"in the fight to secure peace and advance the international influence of the German Democratic Republic".

The order was awarded in bronze, silver, gold and gold honor clasp (Ehrenspange) (for exceptional merit). Each level was only awarded once and with the exception of the recipient of the honor clasp, all recipients received a sum of money.

Notable recipients

Vasily Chuikov, Marshal of the Soviet Union
Berta Daniel
Vinzent Porombka, 1955
Paula Hertwig, 1956
Jan Petersen, 1958
Klaus Köste, 1972
Katarina Witt, 1984 (Gold) and 1988 (gold honor clasp)
Klaus Fuchs

References

link. (2016-03-13 Die DDR in WWW. Retrieved December 3, 2011 {{in lang). de

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

orders,-decorations,-and-medals-of-east-germany awards-established-in-1954 1954-establishments-in-east-germany

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