Category talk:Recipients of the Medal of Merit of the GDR

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Awards

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Biography

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What is this award?

There isn't an English article about this award. There are articles about this award on the German and French Wikipedias, though; see D:Q2514512. I was encouraged to write an English article about this award but I wouldn't do so without having decent sources. There's a German language book about East German awards but I don't have access to it as it is not being held in New Zealand libraries. Here's a bit of background, partially translated from the German article and partially what I can find in contemporary newspapers. Digitised East German newspapers are available via the Berlin State Library but sit behind the most clumsy registration system ever devised by human kind; without being a native-German speaker I don't think you'll master the registration process.

The award was created in June 1959 by the Council of Ministers of East Germany and donated by that group. It was to be awarded twice a year by chairman of the Council of Ministers, with the chairman having the right to delegate that function. The annual dates on which the award was to be given out were 1 May (International Workers' Day) and 7 October (Republic Day). That's at least what it says in the German article, but I'm aware that sports personalities have received the award on dates other than those. There were ceremonies for sports people only and they were held after the Olympics, or at the end of the season, and all sorts of different categories of awards were handed out on those occasions.

The award was first given out in October 1959, which coincided with the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the German Democratic Republic. The first award was made on 2 October (i.e. a few days early), and the recipient was Wilhelm Pieck in his role as President of East Germany.^[1] The newspaper Neues Deutschland published the recipients of all ten different award types that were handed out for the tenth state anniversary, with the Medal of Merit of the GDR being displayed as the leading award type. The other nine were National Prize of the German Democratic Republic, "Hervorragender Wissenschaftler des Volkes" (Excellent scientist of the people; Q1614821), Patriotic Order of Merit, Hero of Labour, Banner of Labor, "Brigade der sozialistischen Arbeit" (Brigade of socialist work; Q915381), Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic, Heinrich Greif Prize, and "Verdienter Tierarzt der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik" (Honoured veterinarian of the German Democratic Republic; Q2514569). There are a number of notable awards amongst that list and the Medal of Merit of the GDR was shown as the leading one of those. The first recipients at the ceremony was Otto Grotewohl, the chairman of the Council of Ministers. After receiving the award himself, it was then up to Grotewohl to hand it out to others: all members of the Central Committee (led by Walter Ulbricht), all members of the presidium of the Volkskammer (led by Johannes Dieckmann), and members (source doesn't say "all members") of the Council of Ministers of East Germany (led by Otto Grotewohl).^[2] I don't know what the membership of those groups were that year but they would have handed out between 30 and 40 awards in total in 1959.

For the 15th anniversary of the GDR, the Medal of Merit of the GDR was awarded to "120 personalities".^[3]

That's all I have time for right now. Schwede 66 17:45, 4 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

^ "Verdienstmedaille für unseren Präsidenten". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Vol. 15, no. 231. 3 October 1959. p. 1. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Hohe Auszeichnungen zum 10. Jahrestag". Neues Deutschland (in German). Vol. 14, no. 273. 4 October 1959. p. 3. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)
^ "Hohe Auszeichnungen zum 15. Jahrestag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Vol. 20, no. 273. 3 October 1964. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[1] "Verdienstmedaille für unseren Präsidenten". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Vol. 15, no. 231. 3 October 1959. p. 1. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[2] "Hohe Auszeichnungen zum 10. Jahrestag". Neues Deutschland (in German). Vol. 14, no. 273. 4 October 1959. p. 3. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

[3] "Hohe Auszeichnungen zum 15. Jahrestag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Vol. 20, no. 273. 3 October 1964. p. 4. Retrieved 4 April 2019. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |registration= ignored (|url-access= suggested) (help)

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