1957er Abzeichen für Blockadebrecher
Instituted on 1 April 1941, the Abzeichen für Blockadebrecher was created "in recognition of the determined conduct of the crews of sea-going ships who found themselves in neutral foreign countries, overseas and on the oceans upon the outbreak of war and who returned to the homeland after breaking the enemy blockade".
The badge could be awarded to the crews of military blockade runners as well those of civilian commercial vessels. The Reichskommissar für die Seeschiffahrt [National Commissioner for Maritime Navigation] was in charge of awards to the crews of civilian ships, while the Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine [Supreme Commander of the Navy], acting in consent with the Reichskommissar, was in charge of awards to crews of ships under military control.
Criteria for the award were a successful breakthrough of the sea blockade, scuttling of the ship to avoid its impending capture by enemy forces and certain cases involving particular initiative which led to a ship and its cargo either being preserved or destroyed in the interest of the people and the economy. Survivors of ships sunk by the enemy were also eligible for the badge as were wounded men under special circumstances.
Originally designed by the artist Otto Placzek of Berlin, the badge depicts a civilian ship with the national eagle at its bow, plowing through the waves and breaking a chain that forms the border of the badge and symbolizes the blockade. The 57er version eliminates the Swastika originally held in eagle’s clutches.
Here it is now:
