Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded to Leo Baeck.

The Order of Merit (‘Bundesverdienstkreuz’) consists of three objects, housed in the same box:A diamond-shaped gold medal with ray motif is adorned by an enamel red cross pattée with a gold roundel in the middle, featuring a black heraldic eagle ('Bundesadler'). The diamond-shaped gold medal measures 3 x 3 inches (7.2 x 7.2 cm.) and has a pin backing.A red enamel cross pattée with gold edges has a gold roundel with a black heraldic eagle ('Bundesadler') in its center. At the top of the cross is a fastener in form of a modern mid-nineteenhundreds fan that attaches the medal to a red, yellow, and black striped ribbon with a buckle. The cross pattée measures 2.5 x 2 inches (6.6 x 6 cm.); the ribbon is 4.5 cm. wide and 62 cm. long.A red, yellow, and black striped ribbon meant to be worn as a lapel button, is attached to a stud, shaped like the Grand Cross Star medal. Its back is marked with the maker's information, “Steinhauer & Lück, Lüdenscheid”. The ribbon measures 5/8 x 1 inches (1.7 x 2.8 cm.)All three objects are housed in their original blue leather box featuring a gold Bundesadler. The box is marked "Schuler & Kun, Pforzheim" on its back.The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (also known as the Federal Cross of Merit, or Bundesverdienstkreuz) was created in 1951 by the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany, Theodor Heuss. It is the only federal decoration of Germany, and it is awarded to individuals "for achievements that served the rebuilding of the country in the fields of political, socio-economic and intellectual activity, and is intended to mean an award of all those whose work contributes to the peaceful rise of the Federal Republic of Germany".Rabbi Leo Baeck's Bundesverdienstkreuz was donated by Marianne Dreyfus as part of the Leo Baeck family collection in memory of Rabbi A. Stanley Dreyfus.(German heraldic eagle, renamed from the Reichsadler after 1945)Updated record.Digital imag