The German Flood Service Medal 2013 (german: Einsatzmedaille Fluthilfe 2013) is a military and civil award of Germany. Established 2 July 2013 by joint decree of the Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich and Federal Minister of Defence Thomas de Maizière, the medal is awarded for approved service during the 2013 European floods. It was approved by the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

on 23 October 2013.

Criteria

The medal may be awarded to the members of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

, Bundespolizei,

Technisches Hilfswerk The (THW, English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal civil protection organisation of Germany. It is controlled by the German federal government. 99% of its 79,543 members (2019) are volunteers. Tasks The tasks of t ...

, foreign armed forces, as well as civilians who provided assistance to the relief efforts of the federal agencies. To be eligible persons must have served at least one day after 30 May 2013, in the flood affected areas of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

and

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...

basins during the 2013 European floods. The medal is awarded by the Federal Ministry of Defence to members of the Bundeswehr, foreign military personnel, and other individuals who provided assistance to the ministry during relief efforts. The Federal Ministry of the Interior awards the medal to members of the Bundespolizei, Technisches Hilfswerk, and others who provided assistance to the ministry during relief efforts.

Appearance

The medal is round, wide, and made of silver colored metal. The

obverse Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...

of the medal depicts stylized flood waters passing before partially submerged buildings. Below the scene, in relief, is ''Fluthilfe 2013 (Flood relief 2013)''. The reverse bears the '' Bundesadler'' with the words ''Dank und Anerkennung'' (Gratitude and Appreciation) below. The medal is suspended by a ribbon wide and long of dark blue with the edges in the German national colors,

black-red-gold The national colours of the Federal Republic of Germany are officially black, red, and gold, defined with the adoption of the West German flag as a tricolour with these colours in 1949. As Germany was divided into West Germany and East Germany ...

. The

service ribbon A medal ribbon, service ribbon or ribbon bar is a small ribbon, mounted on a small metal bar equipped with an attaching device, which is generally issued for wear in place of a medal when it is not appropriate to wear the actual medal. Each cou ...

of the medal is in the same colors as the suspension ribbon. The service ribbon is wide and high, with the edge stripes of black-red-gold wide each. In the center of the ribbon is worn a wide representation of the obverse of the medal.

References

{{reflist Civil awards and decorations of Germany Military awards and decorations of Germany (Bundeswehr) German campaign medals Floods in Germany Awards established in 2013 2013 establishments in Germany

Criteria

Appearance

See also

References