The German Flood Service Medal 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 Hans-Peter Friedrich (born 10 March 1957) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2025 . Under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel, he served as ...

and

Federal Minister of Defence Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

Thomas de Maizière Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière (; born 21 January 1954) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018, as well as Federal Minister of Defence f ...

, the medal is awarded for approved service during the

2013 European floods Extreme flooding in Central Europe began after several days of heavy rain in late May and early June 2013. Flooding and damages primarily affected south and east German states (Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Baden-W� ...

. It was approved by the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

on 23 October 2013.

Criteria

The medal may be awarded to the members of 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 ...

, Bundespolizei,

Technisches Hilfswerk The (, (THW) , English: ''Federal Agency for Technical Relief'') is the federal Emergency management, civil protection organisation of Germany. It is legally part of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (Germany), Federal Ministry of the Inte ...

, 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 ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

and

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) 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 Republic), then Ge ...

basins during the

. 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 The obverse and reverse are 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, ''obverse'' ...

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 flag of Germany () is a tricolour (flag), tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands displaying the national colours of Germany: Sable (heraldry), black, Gules, red, and Or (heraldry), gold (). The flag was first sight ...

. 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