There is also photographic evidence of the importance of decorations for feelings of personal pride. In November of 1943 and 1944, inmates posed for group photos that were then sent home as Christmas cards to their families. While some of them simply donned their uniforms, without any decorations, others preferred to appear in front of the camera wearing all their medals.
The Iron Cross was a permanent topic of discussion among POWs of all ranks. Everyone had a comrade or a relative who had received the Iron Cross, First or Second Class, and since soldiers were perennially oriented around others’ achievements, this created social pressure. If a soldier had not been awarded the decoration, an explanation was required. The simplest sort of justification was that others had unfairly received the medal or that the person in question had performed just as well as his peers, but had been unjustly neglected. Endless discussions were held about the criteria by which the medals were awarded. As early as February 14, 1940, when World War II was barely six months old, Navy First Lieutenant Fritz Huttel complained:
HUTTEL: In this war they’re not handing out so many Iron Crosses as in the last. The U-boat officers especially are getting very few Iron Crosses. A U-boat commander has to make two raids and sink at least 60,000 tons before he gets the Iron Cross 1st Class. After the first raid we only got the U-Boat badge, whereas there are people on the outpost boats in the Baltic who have been given the Iron Cross. Those people have done nothing and know nothing about sailoring. We’ve had the hell of a time with U 55 for weeks and yet we don’t get the Iron Cross. The dissatisfaction at the unjust distribution is great.716
Huttel’s complaints were baseless. Submarine officers had the best chance of anyone at being decorated, and U-55 had been sunk on its maiden mission. The officers had had no chance to distinguish themselves. Nonetheless, Huttel felt the need to justify why he had not been decorated. Complaints of this sort were by no means restricted to the navy. Luftwaffe officers were also constantly griping. For example, in July 1940, after Germany’s successful campaign against France, one Luftwaffe sergeant complained: “At ROTTERDAM all parachutists got E.K.2 and E.K.1, although they only fought for three days. I’ve been an aviator since the beginning of the war and have got nothing. An aviator who has no E.K. after the war will be looked down upon.”717
Along with the never-ending criticism that the criteria for decoration were either too lax or too strict, recriminations abounded that medals were handed out on the basis of rank and not achievement. Common soldiers and low-ranking officers often felt their superiors were pulling strings to gain accolades. “I can surely put in for the E.K.1 after 33 Active Service flights,” registered one low-ranking officer bitterly. “The officers get one after 3 flights and what do we get? We don’t get one Iron Cross. We get shot in the spine (literally—the iron in the cross).”718 Meanwhile high-ranking officers complained that they did not get enough recognition from Hitler because of his National Socialist worldview.719 In their view, members of the Waffen SS were disproportionately decorated for political reasons. “The SS get their badges, not for what they’ve done, but for their political and moral attitude,” griped navy lieutenant Günther Schramm.720
