Stauffenberg Order.

[Taz]

The Stauffenberg Order was a planned State award of the GDR which was never realized. It would have been instituted in 1990 from the Ministry for disarmament and defense and awarded by the Council of Ministers of the GDR.
To date very little is known about this order, a few were produced for pattern embossing purposes and are very rare.

The image below is CO the Deutsche Historische Museum.

[Ralph Pickard]

Taz - thanks for the thread. Do you know if there was any documentation with the medal at the DHM?

[Taz]

No documentation at the DHM as far as I can tell just a few dimentions, Height/Höhe: 4,8 cm, Width/Breite: 4,2 cm and that it is made of Bronze, I assume they mean Gilted Bronze.
Apparently Frank Bartels and Klaus H. Feder mention it in their books, my older version of the Bartels book doesn't mention it however.

[Ralph Pickard]

Taz - Much appreciated follow up post. 1990 was for sure the year for new medals that were to be presented to members of the armed forces and MfS.

[Taz]

With regard to the classification of the order and its possible classes to a State decoration, there is so far only a picture publications which deals with this order. (Bartels and Feder books) even in the last edition of the Government Gazette of the GDR, Law Gazette No. 49 published on the 9th August 1990, there is no corresponding publication.
The available Orders are traded currently at more than 7500 euros and thus more valuable than E.g. the Knight's cross of the iron cross.
Upon German reunification, the GDR joined the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the the creation of this award has all but been forgotten.
Due to the reverse inscription NVA it can be assumed that the order was intended for members of the national people's Army for Military merit.

The Order of Stauffenberg, named after the resistance fighter from 20th July 1944, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg matches in it's appearance the military order of merit of the German Democratic Republic and is very similar.
Diameter of 44 mm (measured at the widest point). The obverse Center shows the left-facing head of Stauffenberg with the semicircular inscription: CLAUS STAUFFENBERG, which is surrounded by two open oak leaves braided at the bottom and curved upwards. At the bottom center are two crossed Sabres.
The reverse of the Order has at the top the three-line inscription: for / military / merit/ FÜR / MILITÄRISCHE / VERDIENSTE at the bottom center of the medal flanked on both sides by a curved Laurel is the inscription NVA.
The Medal ribbon is the same as the military order of merit, light grey with left and right 3 mm from the edge, 8 mm wide black, red and yellow stripes.
No suspension device was intended to distinguish it from the the military order of merit of the GDR ribbon bar.

Regards Eddie.