Kriegsvereinsmedaille

The Medal of the Veterans’ Associations (German: Kriegsvereinsmedaille) was a decoration of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The round, oxidised silver medal was worn on the left breast, suspended from a ribbon in the national colours of yellow, red and blue.

The obverse bears the inscription “WITH GOD FOR EMPEROR, PRINCE AND FATHERLAND” beneath two crossed, unsheathed sabres. The reverse bears the date “17 JUNE 1906” beneath the grand ducal monogram of Adolf Frederick V and a crown.

The Medal of the Veterans’ Associations of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German: Kriegervereinsmedaille) was a decoration awarded to deserving members of these veterans’ associations. In the final years of the 19th century and in the run-up to the First World War, Germany was a thoroughly militaristic society. The veterans of the earlier wars—against China, against France in 1870, against Austria and its allies, against Denmark, and in the revolutionary year 1848, when a democratic uprising was violently suppressed—were often publicly honoured and feted.