THE GRAND CROSS OF THE IRON CROSS 1939 - PART 1

1940 Hoffmann photograph of Hermann Göring's Großkreuz document

As most collectors and students of Third Reich awards know, Hermann Göring was the only recipient of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross 1939. He was awarded the Großkreuz on 19.7.1940 and promoted from Generalfeldmarschall to Reichsmarschall as a reward for his leadership during the May and June 1940 campaigns. The Reichsgesetzblatt of 1.9.1939 specified a gold-plated outer rim with matt silver frosting to the frame beading but this idea was quickly dropped when Adolf Hitler saw the results. Although there are period postcards dating from 1940 with hand illustrations of Göring wearing a gold-rimmed Großkreuz, the GK as awarded was made of iron with traditional silver frames.

A Großkreuz attributed to C E Juncker of Berlin

It is widely accepted that the Großkreuz was supplied to the Ordenskanzlei des Führers by the Berlin firm of C E Juncker, an early maker of the new Ritterkreuz. Dietrich Maerz, author of The Knight’s Cross 1939, stated in 2008 that "it can said with absolute confidence that the actual awarded piece was made by Juncker and was marked only with the silver content "800". However, quite a fe [sic] examples exist with the LDO code stamping L/12 for Juncker. These examples were of the same quality as the 'regular' piece and were used as shop displays (there is the misconception in the collector world that there was a difference between shop examples and 'real' medals. That is not true in most of the cases, however).

"After the prohibition of private sales the majority of theses [sic] shop examples arrived at the Präsidialkanzlei and were stored there. Soem [sic] were supplied to Museums and some were sold to collectors during the Third Reich. The reminder [sic] ended up at Schloss Klessheim and form [sic] there via US-veterans into todays [sic] collections. Only C. E. Juncker was licensed to produce the official version of the Großkreuz."

Studio photo-portraits of Göring taken not long after he received the Großkreuz in 1940 show the award cross quite clearly. The jump ring dips into the frame but not as much as that of the Juncker GK. The difference is quite noticeable. The date 1939 is also visibly different to that of the Juncker cross. Note the sweep of the bottom of the 3 and 9 numerals. Compare these to the numerals on the Juncker cross. There are surviving examples of another kind of Großkreuz, sometimes attributed to Steinhauer & Lück and sometimes to Godet. The Godet thesis is more convincing because this Berlin firm was contracted to supply the early presentation sets of the Ritterkreuz in large red cases with lower grades of the Iron Cross, as presented by Hitler to the first Ritterkreuzträger of general officer rank in 1939 and 1940. It is logical that Godet would have been asked to supply the Großkreuz at the same time.

The cross on the right in the above photograph is an example of the type attributed to Godet by serious students of the subject. The cross on the left is a postwar collectors Großkreuz by the Viennese firm of Rudolf Souval. The "Godet" GK is clearly different to the Juncker RK. Compare the jump ring to that of the GK worn by Göring in the studio portrait. They are the same. Neither dips as deeply into the frame as the Juncker jump ring and neither has the distinctive 'trench' around the bottom of the jump ring, as observed on Juncker GK. A few examples exist, some of which have gilded frame rims. If we assume that the gilding is not a postwar enhancement, this detail further supports the Godet thesis. Twenty or so examples are prepared for approval, some of which have the gilding specified in the original Reichsgesetzblatt of 1.9.1939. The gilded crosses are rejected and consigned to a box in the Ordenskanzlei des Führers. Göring is awarded the Großkreuz on 19.7.1940 and given a cross from the OKF stock.

In this detail from a 1939 postcard depicting the Großkreuz, the form of the date conforms to that of the Godet GK, with the lower curves of the 3 and the 9 curling back on themselves. If we accept that the Großkreuz in the color studies of Hermann Göring in 1940 is not in fact a Juncker piece but a cross made by Godet, then where do the Juncker Großkreuze fit in? C E Juncker was one of the earliest of the Ritterkreuz makers. However, Godet did not make the Iron Cross. They sourced their Iron Crosses from C F Zimmermann, the Ritterkreuz included. It is therefore logical to assume that the cross awarded by Hitler to Göring originated in Zimmermann’s workshops. However, this does not mean that C E Juncker did not make the Großkreuz during World War Two. Examples of the Juncker GK exist with the firm’s LDO hallmark L/12 alongside the 800 silver content mark. 

In March 1941, the Präsidialkanzlei-Amt obliged all makers of the various grades of the Ritterkreuz to mark their retail copies with a code assigned to them by the Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutscher Ordenshersteller or LDO, which could only issue such codes on the express authority of the PKA. In October 1941, the PKA went further and confiscated all retail copies of Germany's highest award for valor, although they allowed authorized manufacturers and museums to retain a few examples for display purposes. A few collectors with the necessary approval were able to obtain examples of these retail copies but this was strictly controlled.

Gordon Williamson, a noted and longtime authority on the Iron Cross in all its grades from its inception after the Prussian War of Liberation in 1813, had some interesting remarks to make on the subject of LDO-marked awards and badges in 2003:  "During the Third Reich period anyone who had lost their award could obtain a free replacement through the Präsidialkanzlei or buy one at their own expense via the LDO, these were in the terminology of the time referred to as Copies, Replicas or Restrikes (i.e.LDO-marked pieces). 

"How many recipients would wish to pay for an over the counter copy when they could obtain an official relacement free? LDO pieces were considered restrikes, copies or replicas, not proper awards. Original period manufacturers catalogues attest to this

. As far as dual marked crosses are concerned, as the LDO marks predate the Präsidialkanzlei marks, I can only assume that these were initially LDO-marked then had the PK number added when they were added to the PK official stocks, but that is conjecture." 

There being no reason to assume that the same did not apply to the Großkreuz, we can say that any crosses bearing Juncker's L/12 LDO code was stamped with that code between March and October 1941. Given the 800 and L/12 hallmarks are stamped on either side of the jump ring, it is unlikely that they were made before the PKA ruling because the crosses made beforehand just bore the 800 hallmark under the jump ring. So, if we follow the logic, C E Juncker produced high quality Großkreuze for a retail market in 1940 and 1941 that rapidly shrank to just one person, who was powerful enough to commandeer as many regulation crosses as he wished and rich enough to have deluxe copies made. 

In the photographs taken of Göring during his surrender to US forces in May 1945, the Großkreuz he was wearing does not even appear to have a jump ring. It seems to be fitted with some form of customized suspension system comprising a sold ribbon ring that is possibly attached to the cross by some form of hinge. It could even be a solid fitting. The date seems smaller and more compact in form that the dates on the Godet and Juncker GK, to say nothing of the Souval GK claimed, optimistically, by some to be a wartime piece. Is this one of Göring's white gold and onyx Großkreuze? Anyone familiar with Göring and his lifestyle would not be surprised to learn that the Reichsmarschall had several Großkreuze, kept in his various residences and headquarters with other doubles of some of his awards, just like anyone of his rank. Göring would quickly have acquired duplicates of the award piece from the Ordenskanzlei or from Godet.

In this photograph of Göring taken in Berchtesgaden during the war, he wears just his Combined 1st Class 1914 Iron Cross and 1939 Bar and his Grand Cross. Note the ribbon loop of large and solid appearance. The loop is clearly too wide to fit through the jump ring of a standard Großkreuz, unless the reverse is suitably narrow. And yet, we have the US Army photographs of Göring showing a similar suspension arrangement, albeit taken at an angle. If the Großkreuz in these photographs had some kind of hinged or articulated ribbon loop instead of the jump ring, could this be one of the special onyx-cored crosses Göring commissioned from Zeitner? Could the story that he was wearing a Großkreuz in onyx and white gold when he surrendered be true? Göring was quickly obliged to surrender his awards to the custody of Major Paul Kubala, who placed them in the unit safe, from which they subsequently disappeared. 

A cased Juncker Großkreuz

Göring might have acquired some Großkreuze by Juncker from the OKF or the PKA. He had the power to obtain whatever pleased him. However, in the absence of any photograph of Hermann Göring wearing a Großkreuz conforming absolutely to the distinctive form of the Juncker crosses, there is no proof that any of Juncker's GK ever made their way into the Reichsmarschall's possession. After all, he had at least a brace of matching white gold and onyx versions made by Herbert Zeitner. So why would Hermann Göring, addicted to opulence and luxury, have bothered obtaining run-of-the-mill Großkreuze in the years following the initial thrill of being awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross? 

However, we shall look at onyx-cored Großkreuze in a later article, along with the recent sale for a reported $1 million of Hermann Göring's Großkreuz document and cassette by a prominent American dealer to a prominent Chinese collector, who was clearly unaware that the originals are in the keeping of the government of the German Bundesrepublik. 

Gordon Williamson wrote with greater circumspection in his book The Iron Cross of 1939: "It is believed that the only manufacturer officially authorized to produce the Grand Cross was the Berlin firm of C.E. Juncker. These authentic award pieces which have been examined simply have the "800" silver content mark to the reverse upper arm of the cross and to the ribbon suspension loop. Other pieces such as those supplied by the manufacturer for shop window or museum displays etc., also carry the LDO code L/12." 


However, Gordon Williamson also had this to say in 2002: "It is known that the Knights Cross dies were destroyed as were the dies for the Anti-Partisan War Badge -hence the hollow backed APB pieces thereafter made by AGMuK. Not ALL Juncker dies were destroyed however, the GK dies, the molds for the 20 Juli 1944 Wound Badge and much other tooling survived and was used after the war to remake pieces, hence I would never fully trust an L/12 GK."

In summary, therefore, it would appear that C E Juncker were not, as previously thought, the officlal suppliers to the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers of the 1939 Großkreuz. Judging by period photographic and documentary evidence, the Großkreuz awarded by Hitler to Göring on 15.7.1940 seems to have been the type attributed to Godet, which was very likely to have been made by C F Zimmermann. Moreover, in the light of Gordon Williamson's remarks in 2002, based on his decades of academic immersion in the study of the Iron Cross, it would appear that collectors should not assume that a Großkreuz bearing the Juncker LDO hallmark or made on the same dies predates May 1945. 

To be continued…