Ritterkreuzträger with Goldenes HJ-Abzeichen (Golden Hitler Youth Honour Badge)

The Goldenes HJ-Abzeichen, also known as the Goldenes Hitler-Jugend-Abzeichen or Golden Hitler Youth Honour Badge, was instituted on 23 June 1934 by Reichsjugendführer Baldur von Schirach with the personal approval of Adolf Hitler as a special honour award within the Hitlerjugend organisation. It was primarily bestowed upon members of the Hitlerjugend, the Bund Deutscher Mädel and the Deutsches Jungvolk who had joined before the first Reichsjugendtag held in Potsdam on 2 October 1932 and who had completed five years of continuous service, thereby recognising the so-called “old guard” of the youth movement. The badge could additionally be awarded for outstanding leadership or other meritorious achievements regardless of length of service. Outwardly resembling the standard diamond-shaped Hitlerjugend membership badge, it featured a black enamelled mobile swastika on a central gold field flanked by white and translucent red enamelled quadrants, but was distinguished by a broader gilt border instead of a silver one. Most examples were produced in gilded bronze or tombak, measured approximately 28 by 17 mm, carried a serial number on the reverse and were fitted with a vertical pin; manufacturers included firms such as Deschler & Sohn, Paulmann & Crone and Wilhelm Deumer under RZM codes. Between roughly 120 000 and 130 000 of the standard golden badges were issued between 1934 and 1943. A higher grade, the Goldenes HJ-Ehrenzeichen mit Eichenlaub, was introduced in 1935 for exceptional services and awarded only about 250 times; a very rare version with diamonds and rubies was created in 1942. Recipients retained the right to wear the badge even after leaving the Hitlerjugend, and the award remained an official Party decoration until the end of the Third Reich.

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HEER


Major Georg Grüner (1915-1944) was born on 9 August 1915 in Windhoek, German Southwestern Afrika, and entered the Wehrmacht in 1936 as an Offiziersanwärter in Panzer-Regiment 1. Promoted to Leutnant on 1 September 1938, he served as Zugführer in Panzer-Abteilung 33 during the Polish campaign, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 5 October 1939, before transferring to the 1. Kompanie of Panzer-Regiment 33 “Prinz Eugen” for the Western campaign. From June 1941 he fought on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa with the same regiment of the 9. Panzer-Division, receiving the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse on 10 July 1941, the Ehrenblattspange des Heeres on 29 September 1941 and the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 18 October 1941. As Oberleutnant and Chef of the 1. Kompanie, I. Abteilung, Panzer-Regiment 33, he was awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 25 November 1941 for outstanding leadership as Zugführer in the fighting around Kursk. After promotion to Hauptmann and recovery from serious wounds, he assumed command of the I. Abteilung / Panzer-Regiment 2 (reconstituted after Stalingrad) in March 1943; the unit trained in France, saw action in Italy and returned to the Eastern Front in late 1943 with the 16. Panzer-Division. There, as Kommandeur of the I. Abteilung, he particularly distinguished himself in February 1944 while establishing a bridgehead across the Gornyi-Tikitsch near Cherkassy. On 11 March 1944 he was killed in action near Davidkowce in the Proskurov area of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine. Posthumously promoted to Major, he received the 436th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 26 March 1944 in recognition of his continuous personal bravery and successful battalion leadership during the intense defensive battles of early 1944.

Source :
https://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/12/album-foto-tokoh-third-reich-peraih.html