The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order 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 ...

(GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000

East German mark The East German mark ( ), commonly called the eastern mark ( ) in West Germany and after German reunification, reunification, was the currency of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217, ISO 4217 currency code w ...

s. The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

's 135th birthday during Karl Marx Year and on the recommendation of the GDR Council of Ministers. It was granted to individuals, enterprises, organizations, and military groups for exceptional merit in relation to ideology, culture, economy, and other designations. Additionally, citizens of other countries could also be awarded the order.

Notable recipients of the Order

*1953: Hermann Duncker, Otto Grotewohl, Luise Kähler, Hermann Matern, Wilhelm Pieck, Wilhelm Zaisser *1956: Wilhelm Koenen *1961: Alfred Kurella, Gherman Titov *1962: Alexander Abusch, Karl Bittel, Franz Dahlem, Herbert Warnke, Otto Winzer *1963: Yuri Gagarin, Karl Maron, Willy Rumpf,

Valentina Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 6 March 1937) is a Russian engineer, member of the State Duma, and former Soviet cosmonaut. She was the first Women in space, woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. S ...

*1964:

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

*1965: Pavel Belyayev, Paul Fröhlich, Alexei Leonov, Hans Schaul *1966: Helene Berg *1967: Rudolf Dölling, John Heartfield, Wilhelm Kling, Karl Mewis *1968: Max Burghardt, Roman Chwalek, Kurt Seibt *1969: Walter Beling, Paul Dessau,

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...

, Jürgen Kuczynski, Hermann Matern, Albert Norden, Willi Stoph, Lotte Ulbricht, Paul Verner *1970: Bruno Apitz, Otto Braun, Max Burghardt, Ernst Busch, Fritz Dallmann, Heinz Hoffmann, Erwin Kramer, Erich Mückenberger, Harry Tisch *1971: Erich Correns *1972: Fritz Cremer, Max Fechner, Klaus Gysi, Kurt Hager,

, Max Spangenberg *1973: Ernst Albert Altenkirch, Eva Altmann, Werner Bruschke, Friedrich Dickel, Ernst Goldenbaum, Erich Mielke, Fred Oelßner *1974: Walter Arnold, Kurt Bachmann, Walter Bartel, Bruno Beater, Jurij Brězan,

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...

, Walter Buchheim, Fritz Cremer, Käthe Dahlem, Arthur Franke, Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, Willi Stoph,

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...

, Markus Wolf, Todor Zhivkov *1975: Edmund Collein, Werner Eggerath, Horst Sindermann, Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Paul Wandel *1976: Vladimir Aksyonov, Hermann Axen, Valery Bykovsky, Luis Corvalán, Luise Ermisch, Manfred Ewald, Wolfgang Junker, Günter Mittag, Ernst Scholz, Paul Verner, Werner Walde *1977: Friedel Apelt, Hilde Benjamin, Klaus Gysi, Kurt Hager,

, Margot Honecker, Erich Mielke,

*1978: Valery Bykovsky, Fritz Eikemeier, Werner Felfe, Hans Modrow, Joachim Herrmann, Werner Krolikowski, Konrad Naumann, Elli Schmidt, Sigmund Jähn *1979:

, Johannes Chemnitzer, Horst Dohlus, Peter Edel, Ernst Engelberg, Klaus Fuchs, Gerhard Grüneberg, Heinz Keßler *1980: Heinz Hoffmann, Alfred Lemmnitz, Siegfried Lorenz *1981:

, Peter Florin, Erwin Geschonneck, Albert Norden, Gerhard Schürer *1982: Hilde Eisler, Kurt Hager,

Kim Il Sung Kim Il Sung (born Kim Song Ju; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

, Erich Mielke, Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, Paul Scholz *1983: Theo Balden, Gerhard Beil, Friedrich Dickel, Wilhelm Ehm, Oskar Fischer,

Egon Krenz Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the Secretary (title), ...

, Werner Scheler, Lotte Ulbricht, Gustáv Husák *1984: 6th Flotilla of the East German People's Navy, Alfred Neumann, Willi Stoph, Wilhelm Sann *1985: Friedrich Dickel, Horst Dohlus, Heinz Hoffmann,

, Bruno Lietz, Erich Mückenberger, Ilse Thiele *1986: Heinrich Adameck,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, Luise Dornemann, Gisela Glende, Günter Mittag *1987: Hilde Benjamin, Margot Honecker, Werner Jarowinsky, Erich Mielke, Markus Wolf *1988: Georgi Atanasov, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Manfred Gerlach, Joachim Herrmann, Kurt Seibt *1989: Horst Brünner, Angel Dimitrov, Aleksi Ivanov, Günter Schabowski, Willi Stoph, Petar Tanchev, Herbert Weiz, Günther Wyschofsky

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Order Of Karl Marx Orders, decorations, and medals of East Germany Awards established in 1953 Awards disestablished in 1989 1953 establishments in East Germany 1989 disestablishments in East Germany Monuments and memorials to Karl Marx

Notable recipients of the Order

See also

References