East German Medal – Merit of the Combat Groups . WMR319

East German Medal. German Democratic Republic (GDR). Medal of Merit of the Combat Groups of the Working-Class, silver class. The medal is suspended from a Soviet style pentagonal mount covered by ribbon with small pin on back. Worn condition.

Additional Notes: Following the 1949 establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) the new state prohibited the wearing of all pre-1945 German decorations and created a new system of awards inspired in part by those of the USSR. East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe that existed from its creation in October of 1949 until its dissolution in October of 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state, and it described itself as a socialist “workers’ and peasants’ state”. Before its establishment, the country’s territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces with the autonomy of the native communists following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in WW2; when the Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party from 1949 to 1989.

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