The Iron Cross, that most sinister of gongs, is making a comeback. To mark German bravery on the battlefield a new medal — the Honour Cross — has been minted. Unlike its predecessor, which was made of blackened steel so as not to attract sniper fire, the Honour Cross glitters in the sunlight. But the distinctive shape has been retained, as has its spikiness, and with the oak leaves on the ribbon this quite plainly is the politically correct version of the medal that was once pinned on Adolf Hitler’s pigeon chest as proof that he was a hero of the First World War.

Bravery under fire is, and always has been, a controversial quality. Saving comrades is part of the soldierly duty; risking one’s life to shield a civilian can sometimes be viewed as poor discipline rather than military valour. Indeed, one of the main reasons why the Iron Cross is such a tarnished icon is that it was awarded to German officers who set about slaughtering civilians. For the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in 1943, the killing of tens of thousands of Jews, German stormtroopers “won” the medal. When the full co-operation between the German Army, the Wehrmacht, and the SS killing squads became clear some time after the war, a shadow was cast over many of those who had been awarded the cross on the Eastern Front.

Yet many Jews had won the Iron Cross as soldiers during the First World War and even wore it with pride into the 1920s. When they were forced into emigration, some took their Iron Crosses with them, their final tie to a country that no longer wanted them. As for the legless war veterans begging on the streets of Berlin in the 1920s, they too typically wore the medal; it was the last thing to go before utter destitution.

The Iron Cross started out as a Prussian award for taking part in the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon. Some 9,000 were produced and any other recipients had to wait until the death of decorated soldiers before picking up their crosses. That was a Prussian economy measure but also an attempt to keep the medal exclusive. The first crosses, made in 1813, carried a crown and the letters F.W., the initials of Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia. A second wave was cast during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. But the big surge came during the First World War when almost a third of the 13 million German combatants won the medal, including Hitler, a corporal in the trenches. The medal bore a big letter W at its heart in honour of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Times Archive, 1813: Prussia's new order of merit

The Grand Cross can be obtained for gaining a decisive battle or the taking of a fortress

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When Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, he revived the medal, replaced the W with a swastika and introduced a new grade, the Knight’s Cross. Altogether 6,973 Iron Crosses were awarded — the last given to teenagers by Hitler on the smouldering terrain near his Berlin bunker in 1945 — and 853 Knight’s Crosses with Oak Leaves. Only one man received the very highest version — the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel. He was officially credited with 2,530 flying missions and the destruction of 532 tanks, as well as a Soviet battleship and cruiser. Rudel became a neo-Nazi in the postwar years and would wear his Knight’s Cross openly even though it bore a swastika, a symbol that is still banned in Germany.

Provided that the swastika has been removed, it is legal to wear the medal in public. But it is seen as provocation and even elderly veterans who won their medal honourably are reluctant to wear it, except at the funerals of fellow soldiers. The Honour Cross should make the celebration of German bravery a more open affair, a matter of pride.

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