Quote:
Originally Posted by alanint
Also, anybody still in the military who won a Nazi era Iron Cross is still authorized to wear the original.
I'll never forget being at the Casino in Monaco and looking over to see a silvered old gent in a tux wearing the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. I wish I had gone over to find out who he was
I have also had in my hands the highest Ritter Kreutz ever awarded. This was when I met Hans Ulrich Rudel in Bolivia in 1980.
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It is
illegal in Germany to display anything with a swastika in public. Like medals, uniforms, flags, steel helmets, daggers and so on. (Exceptions are old postal stamps, coins and some pictures on/in books. § 86 ff StGB. (German criminal code).
If somebody would wear the original version of an Iron Cross, Ritterkreuz or another medal, he would face criminal charges.
In 1957 came up a new medal regulation law that only allows to wear a WW2 era medal (if awarded) in the version of 1957. (
Without a swastica).
Of course, if you met a vet in Monaco, Spain or somewhere else, there the German criminal code / §86 StGB does not apply.
The § 86 StGB does even cover much more.
It is illegal to play some songs, marches etc. used by Nazi organisations til 1945.
AN EXEMPLE: If somebody in Germany would import (internet-order ) a CD with such kind of music and the customs finds this out, he would get alot of touble.