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 THE EAGLE SHIELD OF GERMANY, ONE THAT HAS ESCAPED ME |
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 Dec 2 2003, 08:56 PM
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| Stabsfeldwebel |
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| Posts: 903 |
| Member No.: 14 |
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THE EAGLE SHIELD OF GERMANY
(Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches)
By: W. C. Stump
I have often been asked to name the war relic I never owned, but wanted to acquire during my long career of collecting artifacts from World War Two. Without hesitation I named the Eagle Shield of Germany. This award was one of four awards that never acquired during my career of collecting German Third Reich orders, medals and decoration. It was also one that I found, but never could purchase or trade for. I located it in 1968 when a friend of mine called me and said that a collector by the name of Don Vernon from New York State had picked a cased example of the German Eagle Shield at a local antique show. I made contact with Mr. Vernon and tried for over a year to trade him out of the award. I even made a trip to his home and still could not acquire the item. He would never price the item preferring to trade for daggers. Every dagger I brought him that he said would trade the Eagle Shield for, he rejected for some reason or another. Alas, time and a good friend of my from England, Michael Xilas, managed to leave Don’s home with one of the rarest items in the field of Third Reich awards. I was left with the memories of being able to examine and photograph the rarity that has never been seen, to the best of my knowledge, on the collectors market ever again.
According to David Littlejohn and Col. C. M. Dodkins, Reich President Hindburg first instituted The Eagle Shield of Germany on 1922. According to my information, it was Reich President Friedrich Ebert in 1922. The date of 1922 is agreed as the official date of institution. Little information is on record except by Dr. Doehle in 1943 in his Auszeichnungen des Grossdeutschen Reichs. Even though the design was modified after Adolf Hitler took control of the Reich, it was modified. Not record of the date of modification is recorded, but Dr. Doehle states that as of January 1, 1943, only sixty awards had been presented. Hitler personally awarded each Eagle Shield and the award was to be presented to Germans “whose intellectual creations have benefited the German People.”
The first award in its original form was presented as “The President’s Eagle Shield” (Adlerschild des Reichpresident.) The first recorded account of the award under the Hitler regime was when it was awarded to Richard Strauss on June 11, 1934, Strauss’s 70th birthday.
The shield, designed by N. Noack, of Berlin, was a detachable round 110mm bronze medallion mounted on a bronze pedestal. The obverse of the medallion has a large national emblem. The reverse has the recipients’ name and accomplishments cast in relief. It came in a brown leather presentation case.
The Eagle Shield that I tried so hard to acquire was awarded to Heinrich Schnee. Hitler bestowed the award on February 4, 1941. The reverse of the medallion simply states “HEINRICH SCHNEE DEM DEUTSCHEN KOLONIAL-PIONIER, DER FURHUR 4.II.1941.”
Being the most inquisitive natured member of the Stump generation, or so I had been told all my life, I wanted to know more about Hienrich Schnee. The only person who I could depend on to provide the answer was my now late friend Dr. Phil. Kurt-Gerhard Klietmann, Director of the Institute for the Scientific reaserch Study of Order4s and Awards, Berlin, Germany. Upon receiving my request for information on the life of Heinrich Schnee, Dr. Klietmann provided me with the following: Heinrich Schnee was born on February 4, 1871 to Evangelist parents. He was educated at the Universities of Heidelburg, Kiel and Berlin. In 1897, he enlisted as an officer in the German Foreign Service. In 1898, he was posted as an officer in New Guienea, remaining for two years until he was appointed Governor of Samoa in 1900. Schnee left Samoa in 1905 to serve as a Diplomat at Large at the German Embassy. In 1912 to 1919 he was the Governor of German East Africa. In 1919 he was recalled to Germany and was awarded the Gold Medal of Science at the Prussian Academy. He then was appointed as President of the German Colonial Organization until 1936. He was living a life of retirement when in 1941 he was honored by his government for lifetime achievements in the Foreign Service. Adolf Hitler presented him with the Eagle Shield of the German Reich on February 2nd, 1941.
It has been over thirty years since the Eagle Shield I so very much desired for my collection eluded me. Many times I have looked at the photographs that Don Vernon furnished me during out negotiations for its purchase. I have searched for another Eagle Shield for an equal number of years. I have yet to hear of another offered for sale. So as the sand in the hour glass rapidly indicate that the hour is nearly up, I will have to be satisfied with the knowledge that I had the privilege to at least touch the golden ring as it passed me by.
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Dec 2 2003, 08:58 PM
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| Stabsfeldwebel |
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| Posts: 903 |
| Member No.: 14 |
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Dec 3 2003, 04:25 PM
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| Leutnant |
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| Posts: 1,386 |
| Member No.: 73 |
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Dec 3 2003, 09:02 PM
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| Oberstleutnant |
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| Posts: 2,605 |
| Member No.: 197 |
MCF MEMBERSHIP BADGE HOLDER:197
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Dec 4 2003, 04:11 PM
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| Oberst |
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| Member No.: 39 |
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