German WWII Police 18 Year Long Service Award- Beautiful example of the award with the handsome stylized police eagle over the Maltese cross. The badge itself is excellent. It comes with the correct cornflower blue ribbon in the parade style. The ribbon is very clean, and the pin setup functions perfectly.
History: On January 30th, 1938, the fifth anniversary of the, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, (National Socialist German Workers Party) rise to power, Adolf Hitler instituted a series of Long Service Awards to recognize loyal, long service in the police. The award was issued in three classes with the first-class award for twenty-five years’ service, the second-class award for eighteen years’ service and the third-class award for eight years’ service. Submissions for bestowal of a Police Long Service Award were forwarded to the offices of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), who would submit the list of acceptable recipients to the Staatsminister und Chef der Präsidialkanzlei des Führers und Reichskanzlers, (State Minister and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery of the Leader and National Chancellery), who would authorize, or reject, the bestowal of the appropriate award. Regulations of November 26th, 1941 extended bestowal of the Police Long Service awards to qualifying police personnel from Austria and occupied Czechoslovakia. When issued the awards were generally presented in a specific case and were accompanied with an official possession certificate. Regulations initiated on February 25th, 1943 proposed phasing-out of the Police Long Service awards and regulations of December 19th, 1944 finally discontinued further production and issue of the awards.