Bidspirit auction | German WWII Mother's Cross in

German WWII Mother's Cross in Silver (2nd Class), with Ribbon and Packet of Issue - German WWII Mother's Cross in Silver (2nd Class), with Ribbon and Packet of Issue A Cross of Honour of the German Mother, second class, in what appears to be silver-toned metal with blue enamel accents, suspended from its original blue and white striped ribbon. The cross is housed in its issue packet marked ”Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter, Zweite Stufe, ” with the reverse of the packet bearing a maker/retailer label reading ”Kerbach & Oesterheld, Dresden A1.” The Cross of Honour of the German Mother (Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter) was instituted in December 1938 under the Nazi regime as part of a state pronatalist policy encouraging large families. It was awarded annually, initially on the birthday of Hitler's mother and later on Mother's Day, in three grades—bronze for four to five children, silver for six to seven, and gold for eight or more—determined by local Nazi Party welfare and racial-hygiene officials who vetted recipients for ”racial” and political suitability. Millions of these crosses were distributed to German mothers between 1939 and 1945, making them among the most commonly produced Third Reich civil decorations, though genuine issue packets and maker-marked examples from firms such as Kerbach & Oesterheld remain of interest to specialist collectors.