The Cross of Honour of the German Mother, also known as the Mother's Cross (Mutterkreuz), was a state decoration in Nazi Germany instituted by Adolf Hitler on December 16, 1938. This award was intended to honor mothers for their “service to the German people,” particularly for bearing and raising numerous children.

The decoration was awarded in three classes: Bronze for mothers with four or five children, Silver for mothers with six or seven children, and Gold for mothers with eight or more children. The present example represents the highest class - the Cross of Honour in Gold. The first award ceremony took place on May 21, 1939, on Mother's Day, and this date was chosen as the preferred presentation date in subsequent years.

The cross was designed by Munich sculptor Franz Breest. It features a blue enameled cross with a white border, with a swastika at its center, surrounded by the words “Der Deutschen Mutter” (To the German Mother). The gold version was made of gold-plated brass or bronze. The cross was worn on a white ribbon with light blue edge stripes, symbolically representing purity and motherhood.

The legal basis for this award was established through the Regulation on the Institution of the Cross of Honour of the German Mother. Eligible recipients were “mothers with many children of German blood,” with strict racist and ideological criteria applied. The family had to be “hereditarily healthy” and conform to National Socialist ideals. Mothers whose families were classified as “asocial” or “hereditarily ill” were excluded from receiving the award.

The award was presented by the responsible District Leader of the NSDAP following a formal application process. Local group leaders of the party conducted investigations into applicants and examined their “worthiness.” By 1941, over three million Mother's Crosses had been awarded, approximately 500,000 of them in gold.

The Mother's Cross was part of the Nazi regime's comprehensive population policy, which aimed to increase the birth rate. The National Socialists pursued the goal of expanding the German population to provide sufficient soldiers for future wars and settlers for the planned eastern expansion. The decoration was meant to glorify the traditional maternal role and encourage women to bear as many children as possible.

Recipients of the Mother's Cross received various honors and privileges. They were to be especially respected in public, received preferential treatment at government offices and on public transportation, and younger people, including Hitler Youth members, were instructed to show them respect. However, these regulations were not always consistently implemented in practice.

After the end of World War II, the Cross of Honour of the German Mother was prohibited by Allied Control Council Law No. 1 of September 20, 1945. Public display of the award with Nazi symbols is punishable in Germany under Section 86a of the Criminal Code. Today, these objects are exclusively of historical and documentary interest and are preserved in museums and collections as evidence of National Socialist propaganda and population policy.

The Mother's Cross illustrates the instrumentalization of motherhood by the Nazi regime and the reduction of women to their biological function in service of National Socialist ideology. It exemplifies the connection between family policy, racism, and militarism in the “Third Reich.”