Blücher Order

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blücher Order (German: Blücher Orden) was a decoration of the GDR.

The decoration was named after the Prussian Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher who was seen as an hero in the GDR for his part in defeating the invading army of Napoleon.

The decoration was created in 1965 by the Chairman of the Council of State Walter Ulbricht, the decoration was supposed to be awarded to NVA soldiers as a valor award in a time of war.

The decoration was never awarded as the GDR was never at a state of war, however a couple of hundreds decorations were minted and were ready to be awarded if the GDR were at war.

The decoration came in six classes, the medal grade which was divided to three classes (bronze, silver and gold) and the cross grade which was divided to three classes in the same way.

[edit] Design

The cross was shaped as a white cross, in its center there were a portrait of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher surrounded by an oak leaves wreath (its color was according to the class of the award).

The cross was attached to a red ribbon with two yellow stripes on its edges, the silver class has a silver strip in the center and the gold class had a gold strip.

The medal was round and feature a depicting of the cross front on it, its ribbon was yellow and had blue strips in its center according to the medal class.