The ''Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches'' () was an honorary award () granted by the German president for scholarly or artistic achievements. It was introduced during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

, under President

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until ...

and continued under

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 ...

. It was a metal disc with a German imperial eagle on a pedestal. It was a high and infrequently awarded honor, received by around 70 people in total.

Recipients during the Weimar Republic

Article 109, section 3 of the

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era. The constitution created a federal semi-presidential republic with a parliament whose ...

entitled "Orders and honours may not be given by the state" enacted a ban on honorific orders. Nevertheless, there was a desire for the state to be able to confer symbolic honours and the honorific award of the Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches was created to meet this desire. It consisted of a 108 mm wide medal of cast bronze, mounted on a bronze pedestal and inscribed on the reverse with an individualised honorific inscription. The designer of the Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches was Josef Wackerle. The award was to be given to outstanding individuals in the realms of art, culture, scholarship, science and the economy. The award was made by hand written decree of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

. The Ministry of the Interior made decisions about the honour at the direction of the

Reichskunstwart The Reichskunstwart (German: Imperial Art Protector) was an official position within the Ministry of the Interior of the Weimar Republic, which was concerned with artistic matters and other regulatory issues. It mediated between regulators and arti ...

Edwin Redslob Edwin Redslob (22 September 1884, Weimar – 24 January 1973, West Berlin) was a German art historian and art collector who served as Reichskunstwart under the Weimar Republic. Appointed in 1920, he held the position until it was abolished after ...

, who was also responsible for the design. According to Redslob, the form of the eagle expressed the " idea of the Reich." In total, the Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches was awarded to twenty one people during the period of the Weimar Republic. They were: #

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...

(15 November 1922) # Paul Wagner (7 March 1923) # Harry Plate (28 August 1925) # Emil Warburg (9 March 1926) #

Adolf von Harnack Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (born Harnack; 7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a Baltic German Lutheran theologian and prominent Church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited ...

(7 May 1926) #

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

(20 July 1927) #

Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quantum, quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial con ...

(23 April 1928) # Hans Delbrück (11 November 1928) #

Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literatur ...

(22 December 1928) # Wilhelm Kahl (17 June 1929) # Lujo Brentano (18 December 1929) # Oskar von Miller (7 May 1930) # Friedrich Schmidt-Ott (4 June 1930) # Theodor Lewald (18 August 1930) #

Georg Dehio Georg Gottfried Julius Dehio (22 November 1850 – 21 March 1932), was a Baltic German art historian. In 1900, Dehio started the "''Handbuch der deutschen Kunstgeschichte''" (Handbook of German Art History), published by Ernst Wasmuth Verlag, ...

(22 November 1930) #

Robert Bosch Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German business magnate, engineer and inventor, founder of Bosch (company), Bosch. Biography Bosch was born in Langenau, Albeck, in the Swabia, Swabian Highlands near Ulm. He was one of t ...

(23 September 1931) # Walter Simons (24 September 1931) # Carl Duisberg (25 September 1931) # Max Sering (18 January 1932) #

Ernst Brandes Ernst Brandes (3 October 1758 – 13 May 1810) was a Hannoverian lawyer, official, writer, and scholar. Brandes witnessed the French Revolution as a journalist. Influenced by Edmund Burke, he is regarded by commentators as a voice of conser ...

(11 March 1932) # Adolph Goldschmidt (1933)Hans Kauffmann: ''Adolph Goldschmidt''. In:

NDB NDB may refer to: Finance * National development bank, set up by a country's government to improve that country's economy * New Development Bank, a development bank jointly operated by the BRICS nations * NDB Bank, Sri Lankan commercial bank Pol ...

, Vol. 6, Berlin 1964, p. 614. Probably conferred on 15 January 1933. In the ''Lexikon deutsch-jüdischer Autoren'', Goldschmidt's Adlerschild is not mentioned.

Recipients during National Socialism

The Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches continued to be awarded during the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

period. From 1934, the eagle designed by Josef Wackerle was replaced by the

Imperial Eagle The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of ...

with a

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

, symbols closely connected with Nazi ideology. The reverse continued to feature an individualised inscription, but was also inscribed ''Der

Führer ( , spelled ''Fuehrer'' when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning "leader" or " guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially cal ...

und

Reichskanzler The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. T ...

'' (From 1940, simply ''Der Führer''). Otherwise it was unchanged. #

Philipp Lenard Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (; ; 7 June 1862 – 20 May 1947) was a Hungarian-German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 "for his work on cathode rays" and the discovery of many of their properties. One of his most im ...

(6 June 1933) #

Eduard Schwartz Eduard Schwartz (22 August 1858 – 13 February 1940) was a German classical philologist. Born in Kiel, he studied under Hermann Sauppe in Göttingen, under Hermann Usener and Franz Bücheler in Bonn, under Theodor Mommsen in Berlin and under ...

(22 August 1933) #

Friedrich von Müller Friedrich von Müller (17 September 1858, Augsburg – 18 November 1941, Munich) was a German physician remembered for describing Müller's sign, and Leptospirosis. He was the son of the head of the medical department in the hospital in Augsbu ...

(17 September 1933) # Werner Körte (21 October 1933) #

Wilhelm Dörpfeld Wilhelm Dörpfeld (26 December 1853 – 25 April 1940) was a German architect and archaeologist, a pioneer of stratigraphy, stratigraphic excavation and precise graphical documentation of archaeological projects. He is famous for his work on B ...

(26 December 1933) # Hermann Stehr (16 February 1934) # Reinhold Seeberg (5 April 1934) # Hugo Hergesell (29 May 1934) #

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

(11 June 1934) # Adolf Schmidt (23 July 1934) #

Theodor Wiegand Theodor Wiegand (30 October 1864 – 19 December 1936) was a German archaeologist. Wiegand was born in Bendorf, Rhenish Prussia. He studied at the universities of Munich, Berlin, and Freiburg. In 1894 he worked under Wilhelm Dörpfeld at th ...

(30 October 1934) # Julius Friedrich Lehmann (28 November 1934) # Heinrich Finke (13 June 1935) #

Ludwig Aschoff Karl Albert Ludwig Aschoff (10 January 1866 – 24 June 1942) was a German physician and pathologist. He is considered to be one of the most influential pathologists of the early 20th century and is regarded as the most important German patholo ...

(10 January 1936) # Gustav Heinrich Johann Apollon Tammann (20 April 1936) # Ludolf von Krehl (25 June 1936) #

Erich Marcks Erich Marcks (6 June 1891 – 12 June 1944) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He authored the first draft of the operational plan, ''Operation Draft East'', for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, adv ...

(17 November 1936) #

August Bier August Karl Gustav Bier (24 November 1861 – 12 March 1949) was a German surgeon. He was the first to perform spinal anesthesia and intravenous regional anesthesia. Early medical career Bier began his medical education at the Charité – U ...

(24 November 1936) # Wladimir Peter Köppen (28 March 1937) # Emil Kirdorf (8 April 1937) # Adolf Bartels (1 May 1937) # Bernhard Nocht (4 November 1937) # Alexander Koenig (20 February 1938) # Adalbert Czerny (25 March 1938) #

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

(1938) # Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1938) # Robert von Ostertag (20 April 1939) # Friedrich Karl Kleine (14 May 1939) # Albert Pietzsch (28 June 1939) # Heinrich Sohnrey (19 June 1939) # Julius Dorpmüller (24 July 1939) # Arthur Kampf (28 September 1939) # Karl Muck (22 October 1939) # Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (7 August 1940) # Paul Kehr (28 December 1940) #

Heinrich Schnee Heinrich Albert Schnee (Albert Hermann Heinrich Schnee; 4 February 1871 – 23 June 1949) was a German lawyer, colonial civil servant, politician, writer, and association official. He served as the last Governor of German East Africa. Early ...

(4 February 1941) # Albert Brackmann (24 June 1941) # Ernst Poensgen (17 October 1941) #

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the found ...

(17 March 1943) #

Gustav Bauer Gustav Adolf Bauer (; 6 January 1870 – 16 September 1944) was a German Social Democratic Party leader and the chancellor of Germany from June 1919 to March 1920. Prior to that, he was minister of labour in the last cabinet of the German Empi ...

(1 October 1944) # Hermann Röchling (12 November 1942) #

Alfred Hugenberg Alfred Ernst Christian Alexander Hugenberg (19 June 1865 – 12 March 1951) was an influential German businessman and politician. An important figure in nationalist politics in Germany during the first three decades of the twentieth century, ...

(3 March 1943) # Ernst Rüdin (19 April 1944) #

Eugen Fischer Eugen Fischer (5 July 1874 – 9 July 1967) was a German professor of medicine, anthropology, and eugenics, and a member of the Nazi Party. He served as director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, ...

(June 1944) # Paul Schultze-Naumburg (10 June 1944)

References

Bibliography

*Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig (1991). '' The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich''. Macmillan, New York. *Wolfgang Steguweit: ''Der »Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches«.'' In: ''Berlinische Monatsschrift.'' Heft 6. Edition Luisenstadt, 2000, , pp. 182–187
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches Orders, decorations, and medals of Germany Orders, decorations, and medals of Nazi Germany