Medals and memorabilia

Small objects of great significance

Often it is the small things that tell a story. Military decorations, orders and insignia visibly honour personal achievements, while also serving as an incentive for others. They connect historical events with individual lives.

The collection is remarkable for its extraordinary diversity. It comprises more than 70,000 military orders, medals, decorations and items of memorabilia, and also includes coins and banknotes. The objects date from the late Middle Ages to the present day.

Medals and memorabilia in the exhibitions

Thanks to their diversity, military orders, decorations and memorabilia present many ways of making history visible. They illustrate how war and the military permeate all areas of life. In many cases, they personalize history and allow individuals to emerge from the anonymity of the masses.

Medals – symbols of recognition and belonging

Military orders and decorations represent recognition, belonging, and sometimes even state propaganda. The museum collects wearable and non-wearable decorations as well as insignia of all kinds. In addition, it has many non-wearable commemorative medals.

The collection includes orders, honours, service badges, commemorative badges and organizational insignia. Particularly impressive are the groups of awards preserved in soldiers’ personal estates. These sets reveal not only individual objects but entire life stories – sometimes even spanning several generations.

Memorabilia – the diversity of everyday life

In the memorabilia section, military history becomes particularly tangible. Here the museum collects and preserves the astonishingly wide range of objects that have accompanied people and are connected with war and the military, as well as their causes and consequences. They include military toys, souvenirs, reservist memorabilia, ceremonial items, items made from repurposed military materials, and everyday objects.

Numismatics – money tells a story

The military cannot function without money. Occupying forces used a specially created currency to make purchases in the occupied territories. In prisoner-of-war camps, prisoners were issued their own form of currency. After the war, emergency money played an important role in maintaining social order. The numismatics collection comprises a wide selection of coins, banknotes, emergency currency and share certificates that provide insights into these aspects of military history.