The Saarland Order of Merit () is the highest award of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

. Established on 10 December 1974, the order is presented in recognition for outstanding service to Saarland by the Minister-President of Saarland. Awarded in a single class, in the form of an Officer's Cross (Steckkreuz), the insignia of the order is a blue enameled four-armed eight pointed

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

. In the center of the cross is a silver medallion bearing the wreathed

Coat of arms of Saarland This article is about the coat of arms of the German state of the Saarland. Description The coat of arms of the Saarland is parted per cross: *The first quarter shows the coat of arms of the prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken, a silver lion with go ...

Notable recipients

Dieter Thomas Heck Dieter Thomas Heck (born Carl-Dieter Heckscher; 29 December 1937 – 23 August 2018) was a German television presenter, singer and actor. He is known as the presenter of the popular TV program ''ZDF-Hitparade'', featuring German Schlager mus ...

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was List of prime ministers of Luxembourg, prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also was List ...

Nicole Seibert Nicole Seibert (née Hohloch; born 25 October 1964), known professionally as Nicole, is a German singer, songwriter, musician and producer. In 1982, she became the first German representative to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She has released ...

References

External links

Der Saarländische Verdienstorden

Culture of Saarland 1974 establishments in West Germany {{Germany-culture-stub