The War Merit Cross () was a

state decoration A state decoration is an object, such as a medal or the insignia of an Order (distinction), order, that is awarded by a sovereign state to honor the recipient. The term includes civil awards and decorations, as well as military awards and decorat ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. By the end of the conflict it was issued in four degrees and had an equivalent civil award. A " de-Nazified" version of the War Merit Cross was reissued in 1957 by the ''

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

'' for its

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

History

This award was created by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

in October 1939 as a successor to the non-combatant

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

which was used in earlier wars (similar medal but with a different ribbon). The award would recognize bravery or service in the furtherance of the war effort that fell short of the award of the Iron Cross. The award was graded in the same manner as the Iron Cross: ''War Merit Cross Second Class'', ''War Merit Cross First Class'', and ''Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross''. The award was authorized for both military personnel and for civilians. The award had two variants: ''with swords'' and ''without swords''. Those with swords recognized bravery not directly connected to front-line activities, while awards without swords were for service in the furtherance of the war effort. Recipients had to have the lower grade of the award before getting the next level. The wearing of Nazi era decorations was banned in Germany after the war, as was any display of the swastika. Veterans awarded the War Merit Cross were therefore unable to wear it, either in uniform or – publicly – on civilian dress. In 1957 the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

authorised alternative 'de-nazified' replacement versions of World War II period war decorations. These could be worn both on ''

'' uniform and in civilian dress. The new version of the War Merit Cross replaced the swastika on the obverse central disc of the cross with the date "1939" (as on the reverse disc of the original version), the reverse disc being blank. The wearing of Nazi era decorations in any form continued to be banned in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

until German reunification in 1990.

Criteria

The ribbon of the War Merit Cross was in red-white-black-white-red; the red and black colors being reversed from the ribbon of the World War II version of the Iron Cross. The ribbon for the War Merit Medal was similar, but with a narrow vertical red strip in the center of the black field. Soldiers who earned the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords wore a small crossed-swords device on the ribbon. The War Merit Cross 1st Class was a pin-backed medal worn on the pocket of the tunic (like the Iron Cross 1st Class). The ribbon of the War Merit Cross 2nd Class could be worn like the ribbon of the Iron Cross 2nd Class (through the second buttonhole). Nonetheless combat soldiers tended to hold the War Merit Cross in low regard, referring to its wearers as being in 'Iron Cross Training'. The Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross was a

neck order A necklet is a type of decoration which is designed to be worn and displayed around a person's neck, rather than hung (draped) from the chest as is the standard practice for displaying most decorations. In the Middle Ages most order's insignia ...

and worn the same way as the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. There was one extra grade of the War Merit Cross, which was created at the suggestion of

Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...

: ''The Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross in Gold'' (). However, this was never officially placed on the list of national awards, as it came about in late 1944, and there was no time to officially promulgate the award before the war ended. The Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross in Gold (without swords) was awarded "on paper" to two recipients on 20 April 1945: Franz Hahne and Karl-Otto Saur. The Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross was considered to be ranked higher than the

German Cross The War Order of the German Cross (), normally abbreviated to the German Cross or ''Deutsches Kreuz'', was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 28 September 1941. It was awarded in two divisions: in gold for repeated acts of bravery or military leade ...

in silver, but below the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. A total of 118 awards of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross with swords, and 137 awards without swords were awarded. Considering the relative rarity of the award compared with the grades of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, it took on "extra meaning" it did not necessarily deserve, as it ranked below the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. For example, ''

Reichsmarschall (; ) was an honorary military rank, specially created for Hermann Göring during World War II, and the highest rank in the . It was senior to the rank of (, equivalent to field marshal, which was previously the highest rank in the ), but ...

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

made a concerted effort to get Hitler to award him this order, much to Hitler's annoyance. In response, Hitler outlined a series of criteria governing the awarding of this decoration and the philosophy of such awards, and directed that "prominent party comrades" were not to be awarded with the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross (or similar decorations), and withdrew the proposed awards of this order to Gauleiter

Erich Koch Erich Koch (; 19 June 1896 – 12 November 1986) was a ''Gauleiter'' of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in East Prussia from 1 October 1928 until 1945. Between 1941 and 1945 he was Chief of Civil Administration (''Chef der Zivilverwaltung'') of Bezi ...

and

Herbert Backe Herbert Friedrich Wilhelm Backe (1 May 1896 – 6 April 1947) was a German politician and SS-''Obergruppenführer'' (equivalent to the rank of lieutenant general in Nazi Germany) who served as State Secretary and '' Reichsminister'' in the Rei ...

. Directing his comments at Göring personally, Hitler ordered that such attempts to gain this award be stopped. Also, six persons received two Knights Crosses of the War Merit Cross (each one with and without Swords):

Walter Brugmann Walter Brugmann (2 April 1887 – 26 May 1944) was a Nazi German architect. From 1928 he was head of the city engineering office in Leipzig. From 1933, he was a city planner in Nuremberg, and in 1940 worked as general supervisor for Berlin. From 1 ...

Julius Dorpmüller Julius Heinrich Dorpmueller (24 July 1869 – 5 July 1945) was general manager of Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft from 1926 to 1945, a Nazi politician and the Reich Minister for Transport from 1937 to 1945. Life Dorpmueller was the son of a ...

, Karl-Otto Saur, ,

Walter Schreiber Walter Paul Emil Schreiber (21 March 1893 – 5 September 1970) was a medical officer with the German Army in World War I and a brigadier-general (''Generalarzt'') of the Wehrmacht Medical Service during World War II. He would later serve as a ke ...

, and

Walter Rohlandt Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

. Closely related to the War Merit Cross was the War Merit Medal (), designated on 19 August 1940 for civilians to recognize outstanding service in the war effort. It was usually awarded to those workers in factories who significantly exceeded work quotas. The War Merit Medal was awarded to Germans and non-Germans, to men and women. An estimated 4.9 million medals were awarded by the end of the war in Europe.

Notable recipients

Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross

Gottlob Berger Gottlob Christian Berger (16 July 1896 – 5 January 1975) was a German senior Nazi official who held the rank of '' SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS'' (lieutenant general) and was the chief of the SS Main Office responsibl ...

Heinrich Böhmcker Johann Heinrich Adolph Böhmcker (22 July 1896 –16 June 1944) was a German lawyer, Nazi Party politician and member of the Party's paramilitary organization, the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), who rose to the rank of SA-''Obergruppenführer''. He se ...

(posthumous) *

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

(2-time Knights Cross) *

Kurt Daluege Kurt Max Franz Daluege (15 September 1897 – 24 October 1946) was a German ''SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer'' and ''Generaloberst'' of the police, the highest ranking police officer, who served as chief of ''Ordnungspolizei'' (Order Police) of N ...

Walter Dornberger Major-General Dr. Walter Robert Dornberger (6 September 1895 – 26 June 1980) was a German Army artillery officer whose career spanned World War I and World War II. He was a leader of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket programme and other projects a ...

(2-time Knights Cross) * Franz Xaver Dorsch *

Franz Ritter von Epp Franz Ritter von Epp (born Franz Epp; from 1918 as Ritter von Epp; 16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947)Lilla, Joachim: Epp, Franz Ritter v.'. In: Staatsminister, leitende Verwaltungsbeamte und (NS-)Funktionsträger in Bayern 1918 bis 194 ...

Karl Hermann Frank Karl Hermann Frank (24 January 1898 – 22 May 1946) was a Sudeten Germans, Sudeten German Nazism, Nazi official in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia prior to and during World War II. Attaining the rank of ''Obergruppenführer'', he was in ...

Hans-Georg von Friedeburg Hans-Georg Friedrich Ludwig Robert von Friedeburg (15 July 1895 – 23 May 1945) was a German admiral, the deputy commander of the U-boat Forces of Nazi Germany and the second-to-last Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine. He was the only repr ...

Albert Ganzenmüller Albert Ganzenmüller (born 25 February 1905 in Passau – died 20 March 1996 in Munich) was a German Nazi and, as the State Secretary at the Reich Transport Ministry ''()'', was involved in the deportation of German Jews. Career Albert Ganz ...

Karl Gebhardt Karl Franz Gebhardt (23 November 1897 – 2 June 1948) was a Nazi physician and a war criminal. Gebhardt was the main coordinator of a series of medical atrocities performed on inmates of the concentration camps at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz. ...

Edmund Glaise-Horstenau Edmund Hugo Guilelmus Glaise von Horstenau (also known as Edmund Glaise-Horstenau; 27 February 1882 – 20 July 1946) was an Austrian Nazi politician who became the last vice-chancellor of Austria, appointed by Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg under ...

* Franz Hayler *

Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorff Wolf-Heinrich Julius Otto Bernhard Fritz Hermann Ferdinand Graf von Helldorff (14 October 1896 – 15 August 1944) was an SA-''Obergruppenführer'', German police official and politician. He served as a member of the Landtag of Prussia during th ...

Hans Jüttner {{Infobox military person , name = Hans Jüttner , birth_date = {{birth-date, 2 March 1894 , death_date = {{death-date and age, 24 May 1965, 2 March 1894 , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J28010, Hans Jüttner.jpg , image_upright= 0.9 , image_ ...

Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a ...

Hans Kammler Hans Kammler (26 August 1901 – after October 1945) was an SS-''Obergruppenführer'' responsible for Nazi civil engineering projects and its top secret V-weapons program. He oversaw the construction of various Nazi concentration camps, includi ...

Wilhelm Kube Wilhelm Kube (13 November 1887 – 22 September 1943) was a German Nazi politician and official who served as the '' Generalkommissar'' of '' Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' in the ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'' from 1941 to 1943. Kube was invol ...

(posthumous) *

Willy Messerschmitt Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt (; 26 June 1898 – 15 September 1978) was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer who designed a number of prominent aircraft for the ''Luftwaffe'' and civil aviation. Messerschmitt designed a numb ...

* Theo Morell * Heinrich Müller *

Wilhelm Murr Wilhelm Murr (16 December 1888 – 14 May 1945) was a Nazi German politician. From 1928 until his death he was '' Gauleiter'' of Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and from early 1933 held the offices of State President and '' Reichsstatthalter'' ...

* Franz Neuhausen *

Wilhelm Ohnesorge Karl Wilhelm Ohnesorge (8 June 1872 – 1 February 1962) was a German politician in the Third Reich who sat in the Hitler Cabinet. From 1937 to 1945, he was the ''Reichsminister'' of the Reich Postal Ministry, the German postal service, having ...

Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and army officer. A national conservative, he served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932, and then as Vice-Chancell ...

Paul Pleiger Paul Pleiger (28 September 1899 – 22 July 1985) was a German entrepreneur and corporate executive who was involved in managing the war economy of Nazi Germany. He was the managing director of the ''Reichswerke Hermann Göring'' from 1937 and be ...

Oswald Pohl Oswald Ludwig Pohl (; 30 June 1892 – 7 June 1951) was a German high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era. As the head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office and the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps, he was a ke ...

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was a German automotive engineering, automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche, Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first Petrol engine, gasoline–Electric motor, el ...

* Fritz Reinhardt *

Georg Rickhey Georg Johannes Rickhey (25 August 1898, Hildesheim – 21 November 1970, Essen) was a German engineer and the general director of Mittelwerk GmbH in Dora-Mittelbau. Rickhey, a doctor of engineering, joined the Nazi Party in October 1931 as me ...

* Karl-Otto Saur (2-time Knights Cross & Knights Cross in Gold) *

Ferdinand Sauerbruch Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was a German surgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery. Biography Sauerbruch was born in Barmen (now a district of Wuppertal), Germany. He st ...

(2-time Knights Cross) * Otto Stapf *

Edmund Veesenmayer Edmund Veesenmayer (12 November 1904 – 24 December 1977) was a high-ranking German SS functionary and Holocaust perpetrator during the Nazi era. He significantly contributed to the Holocaust in Hungary and in the Independent State of Croat ...

Walter Warlimont Walter Warlimont ('' WAH-li-moh''; 3 October 1894 – 9 October 1976) was a German Army staff officer and general during World War II. He served as deputy chief of the Operations Staff, one of departments in the ''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' ( ...

* Otto Winkelmann

War Merit Cross

* Heinrich Bennecke (1st class) *

Alfred Ingemar Berndt Alfred-Ingemar Berndt (22 April 1905 – 28 March 1945) was a German Nazi journalist, writer and close collaborator of Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Berndt joined the Nazi Party at the age of 18 and bec ...

(1st class) *

Josef Blösche Josef Blösche (12 February 1912 – 29 July 1969) was a German war criminal and a member of the Nazi Party who served in the SS and SD during World War II. Blösche personally executed many Jews, participating in several massacres, and helped ...

(2nd class, with Swords) * Franz Bock (1st class, with Swords) *

Karl Böhm Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss. Life and career Education Karl Böhm was born in Graz, St ...

(2nd class) *

Andreas Bolek Andreas Bolek (3 May 1894 – 5 May 1945) was an Austrian Nazi who served as the ''Gauleiter'' of Upper Austria from 1927 to 1934. He emigrated to Nazi Germany where he became a '' Reichstag'' deputy, the Police President of Magdeburg and an SS- ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Philipp Bouhler Philipp Bouhler (11 September 1899 – 19 May 1945) was a German senior Nazi Party functionary who was both a (National Leader) and Chief of the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP. He was also the SS official responsible for the euthana ...

(1st class) * Hermann Brauneck (2nd class) * Friedrich Buchardt (1st class, with Swords) * Günther Burstyn (1st class, with Swords) *

Hans Busch Hans Walter Hugo Busch (27 February 1884 in Jüchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany – 16 February 1973 in Darmstadt, Hesse) was a German physicist. He was a pioneer of electron optics and laid the theoretical basis for the electron microsc ...

(2nd class) *

Adolf Butenandt Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt (; 24 March 1903 – 18 January 1995) was a German biochemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1939 for his "work on sex hormones." He initially rejected the award in accordance with government pol ...

(1st class) * Karlfried Graf Dürckheim (2nd class) * Karl von Eberstein (1st class, with Swords) *

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ;"Eichmann"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 19 March 1906 – 1 Ju ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Alfred Frauenfeld Alfred Eduard Frauenfeld (18 May 1898 – 10 May 1977) was an Austrian Nazi leader. An engineer by occupation, he was associated with the pro-German wing of Austrian Nazism. Early life Frauenfeld was born in Vienna, the son of a privy councill ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Reinhard Gehlen Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German military and intelligence officer, later dubbed "Hitler's Super Spy," who served the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and West Germany, and also worked for the United States during the e ...

(1st class, with Swords) * Paul Giesler (1st class, with Swords) * Ernst Girzick (2nd class) *

Ludwig Grauert Ludwig Clemens August Grauert (9 January 1891 – 4 June 1964) was a German lawyer who served as the State Secretary in the Prussian and Reich Ministry of the Interior in Nazi Germany and played a role in drafting the Reichstag Fire Decree. He ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Josef Grohé Josef Grohé (6 November 1902 – 27 December 1987) was a German Nazi Party official. He was the long-serving ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Cologne-Aachen and ''Reichskommissar'' for Belgium and Northern France toward the end of the Second World War. B ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Eugen Hadamovsky Eugen Paul Hadamovsky (14 December 1904 – 1 March 1945) was a politician and radio production director in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1942. Early years Hadamovsky was born and raised in Berlin; he joined the paramilitary ''Freikorps'' forces ...

(1st class) *

Karl Hanke Karl August Hanke (24 August 1903 – 8 June 1945) was an official of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) during its rule over Germany who served as the fifth and final '' Reichsführer'' of the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). He also served as ''Gauleiter'' of ...

(1st class) * Arthur Hess (1st class) *

Adolf Heusinger Adolf Bruno Heinrich Ernst Heusinger (a.k.a. Adolf Horn while in Gehlen Org.; 4 August 1897 – 30 November 1982) was a German military officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, West Germany and NATO. ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Reinhard Heydrich Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich ( , ; 7 March 1904 – 4 June 1942) was a German high-ranking SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He held the rank of SS-. Many historians regard Heydrich ...

(Posthumous: 1st class, with Swords) *

Friedrich Hildebrandt Friedrich Hildebrandt (19 September 1898 – 5 November 1948) was a Nazi Party politician, a ''Gauleiter'' and an SS-''Obergruppenführer''. He was found guilty and executed for war crimes committed during the Second World War. Early life H ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Richard Hildebrandt Richard Hermann Hildebrandt (13 March 1897 – 10 March 1951) was a German Nazi politician and SS-''Obergruppenführer''. During the Second World War, he served as a Higher SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in Nazi-occupied Poland, the Soviet Union ...

(1st class, with Swords) * Albert Hoffmann (1st class, with Swords) *

Franz Josef Huber Franz Josef Huber (22 January 1902 – 30 January 1975) was a German police and security service official during the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany eras. He joined the Nazi Party and the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in 1937 and worked closely with G ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Friedrich Jeckeln Friedrich August Jeckeln (2 February 1895 – 3 February 1946) was a German Nazi Party member, police official and SS-'' Obergruppenführer'' during the Nazi era. He served as a Higher SS and Police Leader in Germany and in the occupied Sov ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont () (13 May 1896 – 30 November 1967) was the heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont and a general in the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS). From 1946 until his death, he wa ...

(2nd class, with Swords) *

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Fascism, fascist and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the World War II, Second World War. After moving from ...

(1st class) *

Hartmann Lauterbacher Hartmann Paul Johann Lauterbacher (24 May 1909 – 12 April 1988) was the German '' Stabsführer'' of the Hitler Youth (''Hitler Jugend''), the ''Gauleiter'' of Gau Southern Hanover-Brunswick (''Südhannover-Braunschweig''), the '' Oberpräsiden ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Josef Mengele Josef Mengele (; 16 March 19117 February 1979) was a Nazi German (SS) officer and physician during World War II at the Russian front and then at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, often dubbed the "Angel of Death" (). He performed Nazi hum ...

(2nd class, with Swords) *

Wilhelm Mohnke Wilhelm Mohnke (15 March 1911 – 6 August 2001) was a German military officer who was one of the original members of the ''Schutzstaffel'' ''SS-Stabswache'' Berlin (Staff Guard Berlin) formed in March 1933. Mohnke, who had joined the Nazi Party ...

(2nd class, with Swords) *

Arthur Nebe Arthur Nebe (; 13 November 1894 – 21 March 1945) was a German SS functionary who held key positions in the security and police apparatus of Nazi Germany and was, from 1941, a major perpetrator of the Holocaust. Nebe rose through the ranks ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Egon von Neindorff Egon von Neindorff (12 September 1892 – 15 April 1944) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. World War II On 1 July 1942 Neindorff took comman ...

(1st class, with Swords) * Hans Pfundtner (1st class) *

Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse Philipp, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (6 November 1896 – 25 October 1980) was head of the Electoral House of Hesse from 1940 to 1980. Philipp joined the Nazi Party in 1930, and, when they gained power with the appointment of Adolf Hitler as ...

(1st class) * Hans-Adolf Prutzmann (1st class, with Swords) *

Gustav Adolf Scheel Gustav Adolf Scheel (22 November 1907 – 25 March 1979) was a German physician and Nazi Party official. He served as a "multifunctionary" in Nazi Germany, including posts as the Reich Student Leader leading both the National Socialist German Stu ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Walter Schellenberg Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German Schutzstaffel, SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the ''Sicherheitsdienst'' (SD) and ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Kurt Schmidt Kurt Schmidt (April 9, 1891 – March 3, 1945) was a German Generalleutnant during the Second World War who also fought during the First World War. Early life and career He was born in the German city of Frankfurt on April 9, 1891. In 1909 he j ...

(1st class, with Swords) * Karl Eberhard Schöngarth (1st class, with Swords) *

Franz Xaver Schwarz Franz Xaver Schwarz (27 November 1875 – 2 December 1947) was a high ranking German Nazi Party official who served as ''Reichsschatzmeister'' (National Treasurer) of the Party throughout most of its existence. He was also one of the highes ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Hermann Senkowsky Hermann Robert Josef Senkowsky (31 July 1897 – 5 April 1965) was an Austrian customs officer and SS-Führer. He also was chief president finance of the General Government, which would correlate to finance minister of occupied Poland in World W ...

(1st class) * Josef Spacil (1st class, with Swords) *

Rudolf Toussaint Rudolf Toussaint (2 May 1891 – 1 July 1968) was a German Army officer. Toussaint saw action in both World Wars. During World War II he was appointed Commissioner of the German army in the office of the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. Bi ...

(1st class, with Swords) *

Siegfried Uiberreither Siegfried Uiberreither (29 March 1908 – 29 December 1984) was an Austrian Nazi ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' of the Reichsgau Styria during the Third Reich. Early life Born in Salzburg, he was the son of an engineer named Josef Üb ...

(1st class) *

Udo von Woyrsch Udo Gustav Wilhelm Egon von Woyrsch (24 July 1895 – 14 January 1983) was a Nazi Party politician and SS-''Obergruppenführer'' in Nazi Germany who participated in the massacre of Jews in Poland, and was later convicted of being an accessory ...

(1st class, with Swords) * Paul Zimmermann (1st class, with Swords)

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:War Merit Cross 1939 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Awards established in 1939 Awards disestablished in 1945 Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany

History

Criteria

Notable recipients

Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross

War Merit Cross

Notes

References

Further reading

External links