BACKGROUND: The Mother’s Cross was introduced by Adolf Hitler on December 16TH 1938 as part of a large propaganda campaign aimed at increasing the birth rate. The award was officially designated, Honor Cross of the German Mother, and was instituted in three grades to recognize and reward child bearing German females. The three grades consisted of the bronze cross for bearing four or five children, the silver cross for bearing six or seven children and the gold cross for bearing eight or more children. Criteria for the award included that the parents be of pure German blood, and that the mother was worthy of such an honor. On its introduction the cross had the impressed inscription to reverse, "Das kind adelt die Mutter", (The child ennobles the mother), but this was inexplicably changed sometime in 1939. Bestowal of the cross was accompanied by an award certificate, a cash incentive for each child born and a miniature cross for everyday wear, with the actual cross being reserved for formal or ceremonial occasions. Of Note: Members of all youth organizations were required to salute wearers of the Mother’s Cross. As with most military and civilian awards of the Third Reich period miniature version lapel pins were permitted for wear on civilian clothing. These miniature awards were private purchase items and could only be purchased by individuals with the proper ownership documentation. General regulations, with a few minor exceptions, permitted wear of three miniature awards at one time but prohibited the mixing of military and civilian awards on one lapel pin. Also of Note: The LDO, Leistungsgemeinschaft der Deutschen Ordenshersteller, (Administration of German Medal Manufacturers). began regulating the manufacture of German awards in March 1941 as a quality control agent for awards that were intended for retail sale and manufacturers were to use an assigned LDO, "L", code on their products destined for retail sales. Awards that were to be bestowed by the government were also issued an official numerical government contract code known as a, Lieferantnummer, (Contractors Number), that was issued by the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers, (Presidential Council of the Führers), for formally approved manufacturers. The manufacturing firms that were licensed by both the Präsidialkanzlei des Führers and the LDO and would have used the same dies to stamp both the official issue and retail sales types of awards making them virtually indistinguishable from one another except for the markings.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A 18mm tall, lapel version of the second pattern, two piece, die stamped tombac award with a bronze wash and blue and white enamel work. The award is in the form of a Christian cross in blue enamel with a white enamel border, both outlined in bronze. Between each arm of the cross are five-ray projections in bronze. The central circular field has a white enamel base upon which is a black static swastika, outlined in bronze, and encompassed by a bronze surround with the embossed Latin script, "Der Deutschen Mutter" (The German Mother). It comes with the original ribbed rayon blue and white striped ribbon, formed into an ornate bow.