The Korean state of Chosŏn first established diplomatic relations with the German Empire under the Germany–Korea Treaty of 1883 which remained in effect even after in 1905. In October 1936, a typhoon hit the Korean Peninsula, causing an enormous flooding and damage. The Japanese Governor-General of Korea, Minami Jirō (南 次郎), held a fundraising campaign for flood damage recovery. On Oct. 19th, the German Consul General in Darien, Manchukuo, Ernst Bischoff, visited Korea and handed over funds from Nazi German for the recovery efforts. It is unlikely that Hitler felt compassion for the Koreans, and it was more likely a diplomatic gesture towards the Japanese Empire, especially considering the future friendly relationship between the two countries. The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan on Sept. 27, 1940. Keep in mind that all nations make their decisions in the name of national interest, and then explain them in terms of self-sacrificing altruism. The various forms of humanitarian assistance have their reasons.
When the Korean War broke out, neither the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) nor the German Democratic Republic (GDR) were in a position to assist militarily in the conflict. At the time, neither of them had a proper army, and both were suffering from the psychological and economic aftermaths of WWII. Germany’s perceptions of the Korean War and the suffering of the Korean people were also divided by east and west, with each side actively supporting their respective ideological partners. Both states directly participated in the Korean War.
West Germany
The North Korean invasion of South Korea led West German and American officials to believe that Soviet Russia might initiate a similar war for German reunification.
In early 1952, Gustav Heinemann (German Minister of the Interior), asked Otto Geßler (chairman of the West German Red Cross), to organize a medical team for duty in Korea, tentatively scheduled for March 1953. The West German Federal Health Department established a temporary organization to gather the necessary personnel. On Nov. 25, 1952, the West German government notified the United Nations of its preparations to send medical supplies to the ROK. Later, on April 7, 1953, the Chancellor of West Germany, Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (1876-1967) visited the United States and met President Eisenhower. He stated that Germany would provide a field hospital (Feldlazarett) for the U.S. troops in Korea under the United Nations Command. At the time, West Germany was not a member of the United Nations and did not have any diplomatic relationship with South Korea. In May 1953, Germany officially notified the United Nations Command of its intention to set up a military field hospital in South Korea. While the equipment was still being shipped, the Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. Consequently, the German Red Cross modified their plans and built a regular hospital but with the intent to operate under the U.N. flag.
On Jan. 30, 1954, administrative officials arrived in Seoul to discuss specific matters regarding the operation of the hospital. On Feb. 18th, South Korean president Syngman Rhee personally met with the West German medical delegation. The German medical staff arrived two days later. The UN and the US military officially defined the West German medical aid as a “relief organization”, not a field hospital, serving both North and South Korean civilians. The 250-bed hospital in Pusan opened on May 17, 1954, in a converted Girl’s High School building. It provided 117 medical professionals each year from May 1954 to March 14, 1959. Over the next five years, the German medical staff served: 227,250 outpatients, 21,562 inpatients, performed 9,306 major surgeries, 6,551 minor surgeries and assisted in 6,025 childbirths. The hospital also established education and training programs for Korean medical personnel. There were 41 South Korean doctors who had the opportunity to practice and study in the hospital. The hospital also trained 60 South Korean nurses.
Internal scandals (racism, mismanagement, misdiagnosis, etc.) within the hospital were reported in the Der Spiegel (lit. “The Mirror”) a German news outlet. This led to a thorough investigation, and eventually, the West German Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano decided that maintaining the hospital would not be beneficial to West Germany’s reputation within the international community. It appears that the South Korean government, the West German government and the German Red Cross, decided to let the history of the West German medical aid to South Korea, fade into oblivion. On March 14, 1959, neither the Korean President nor the Minister of Health and Society participated in the hospital closing ceremonies. Only lower-ranking officials were present. Until recently, the South Korean government never commemorated the German hospital activities in Korea. Even when the West German Red Cross Marker was erected at the former hospital site on Oct. 24, 1997 on United Nations Day, no West German officials participated.
Germany was not included among the Korean War providers of medical aid because its medical support activities did not physically begin until after the armistice treaty was signed on July 27, 1953. During the visit of Korean President Moon Jae In to Germany in May 2017, he met with some original German Staff members of the hospital. As a consequence, the 2018 Korean Ministry of Defense White Paper recommended that Germany be added to the list of Korean War medical support providers and to revise all relevant official and historical records. On June 22, 2018, the Korean Ministry of National Defense formally designated Germany as the sixth provider of medical support to the war-stricken South Korea.
On Oct. 15th, Korea unveiled a German war monument in the Peace Plaza of the Korean War Museum in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The plaza now houses 22 monuments — 16 to the countries that provided combat support and six that gave medical assistance. Germany was recognized as a participating nation in the Korean War because it decided to send medical personnel in 1953, while the war still raged. On Sept. 12, 2023, a Korean ministry spokesman stated, “We decided to support construction of the first war memorial to German participation in the Korean War in Germany, which provided medical support during the war”. The Korean Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Park Min-shik 박민식 (朴敏植, 1965~) met with the Secretary General of the German Red Cross, Christian Reuter, in Berlin to discuss the establishment of a memorial commemorating Germany’s participation in the Korean War.
The German Red Cross Decoration (Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes)
It was founded on April 18, 1922. On January 30th, 1934, the decoration underwent a design change and the red cross on the obverse of the medal was replaced with a German eagle. The number of grades was increased from two to five. On April 6th, 1936, the decoration was revised again and a swastika in a gilt wreath was added to the chest of the German eagle. The number of the grades was increased from five to seven. In 1939, the Decoration was replaced by the German Social Welfare Decoration. It was re-founded in its present form on May 8, 1953. It is awarded by the German Red Cross. Currently, it consists of a Geneva cross with white enameled arms, the obverse with a central red enameled Geneva Cross inside a black enameled ring bearing a gilt inscription of “DEUTSCHES ROTES KREUZ”, surmounted with a suspension loop, with red and white ribbon. It comes in a fitted case, 55 × 53 mm wide. It is conferred for acts of merit rendered in the service of the Red Cross. Furthermore, it comes in two grades: Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes 1. Klasse (Decoration of the German Red Cross 1st Class) and the Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes 2. Klasse (Decoration of the German Red Cross, 2nd Class). The grade was conferred based upon a recipient’s level of merit. In 1957, they were re-named as the Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes in Gold [Decoration of the German Red Cross in Gold] and the Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes in Silber [Decoration of the German Red Cross in Silver]. The gold grade was last awarded in 1982, and while theoretically still in place, it is, for all intents and purposes, discontinued. The silver grade is now simply designated as the Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes [Decoration of the German Red Cross].
East Germany
DDR Ehrenzeichen des DRK Deutschen Roten Kreuzes in Gold an Ehrenspange
These were purportedly issued for Service in North Korea
The German Democratic Republic’s reaction to the Korean War was swift. On August 2, 1950, Helmut Lehmann, a member of the Central Secretariat (Zentralsekretariat) of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands), proposed to Otto Grotewohl, the first Prime Minister of the GDR, the establishment of an official committee to help Korea. As a consequence, the Korea Committee for Humanitarian Aid (Korea Hilfsausschuss) was established on September 9, 1950. It was a management organization run by the SED to collectively manage donations and deliver them to North Korea. The most significant of the East German aid activities in North Korea was the postwar reconstruction of Hamheung, the largest industrial city in North Korea and the second-largest city after the capital of Pyongyang.
Besides the representative aid activities of the Korea Aid-Committee and the Hamheung reconstruction project, socialist countries took in large numbers of North Korean orphans. The official request of North Korea to the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries for help in raising orphans was made on February 13, 1951, through the North Korean Ambassador Li Ju-yeon and the Chinese Foreign Minister Zhōu Ēnlái. Between 1951 and 1952, more than 2,000 war orphans were sent overseas. The People’s Republic of China said it was ready to accept 23,000 North Korean orphans to educate in its schools. East Germany accepted 957 orphans and students during the 1950s. In the late 1950s, most of these children and students were repatriated. North Korea under Kim Il-sung wanted to pursue the doctrine of “Juche” which called for independence and self-reliance.1 Many of these children became part of the political elite of North Korea, although some children went into exile or committed suicide rather than be forcibly repatriated.
Besides cash donations, other donations were made with various industrial goods and supplies. These goods were collected at the office of the National Council of the National Front in Berlin and then sent to North Korea. Donations were transported by the Trans-Siberian Railway and unloaded in Manchuria, where they would be safe from American bombing. By 1954, more than 150 tons of medicine and 200 tons of medical equipment, as well as two ambulances, were delivered. It is estimated that the value of donations amounted to approximately 40 million Deutsche Marks (18 million in funds and 22 million in commodities). North Korea’s Three-Year Reconstruction Plan (1954-1957), depended heavily on economic assistance from countries of the Sino-Soviet Bloc. The North Koreans claimed that by August 1955, they had rehabilitated 230 industrial establishments and completed construction on 60 new ones. The Kim Il-sung regime portrayed the economic development of North Korea as a self-achievement. When the Korea Aid Committee announced the termination of its activities on Oct. 31, 1957, the North Korean media did not report on any of the activities of the committee. When on Aug. 30th, North Korea announced its first five-year economic plan (1957-1961), Kim Il-sung emphasized North Korea’s reliance on its own, internal resources (autarky). Eventually, in August 1962, the German construction projects were terminated, including the eight-year long Hamheung reconstruction project.
In the mid-1950s on, a growing ideological rift emerged between Moscow and Beijing. Both the Chinese and Soviets vied for control of Communist satellite nations. Kim Il-sung was forced to choose between the Soviet Union and China. The Commodity Trade Agreement, which had previously been rejected, was signed in January 1957 and the Chinese began to provide large-scale economic aid to North Korea.
Awards
On March 20, 1959, the Korean President awarded a Public Welfare Merit Medal 공익포장 (公益褒章) to the hospital director. Keep in mind that Korean Merit medal are below the orders. On Dec. 30, 1954, the Korean Minister of Defense and the Minister of Health personally attended the farewell ceremony of the Italian field hospital and awarded the Order of Military Merit in two different classes, the Chungmu and Hwarang.
The hospital director Günther Huwer was awarded the prestigious Paracelsus Medal from the German Medical Association (Bundesärztekammer, BAK) in 1957. The medal honors doctors for their achievements in the spirit of Paracelsus, “who have made special contributions to the reputation of doctors through exemplary medical behavior or through successful professional work or outstanding scientific achievements.” It is awarded yearly on German Doctor’s Day.2 I found one reference which states that on September 28, 1956, Günther Huwer, the German hospital director, was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom.
On July 5, 2017, Karl Hauser a hospital engineer received a Korean Presidential Citation.
As far as I can determine, the “United Nations Korea Medal” was never awarded to any of the Germans who participated in the medical relief efforts. According to the United Nations Service Medal Regulations, Section VI, members of the International Red Cross are not eligible, but members of National Red Cross Organizations are. The eligibility period for the United Nations War Medal was from June 27, 1950, to July 27, 1954, and official inspection or business visitors were eligible if they applied with a total of 30 days served during the eligibility period. Because the German Red Cross Hospital opened in May 1954, members are eligible to receive the medal.
The Korean “6.25 Service Medal” better known as the Korea War Service Medal was also never awarded to any of the members of the German Hospital Staff. When on June 22, 2018, Korea officially recognized Germany as a contributing nation to the war effort, members became eligible for the medal. I have no information if anyone has applied and/or received the medal.
Footnotes:
- The first documented reference to Juche 주체사상 (主體思想) as an ideology did not appear until 1955. Hwang Jang-yop 황장엽 (1923 – 2010) was a North Korean politician who served as the Chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly from 1972 to 1983 and was largely responsible for crafting Juche, the state ideology of North Korea. He defected to South Korea in 1997, the highest-ranking North Korean to have defected.
- Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493/1494 to 1541) was a Swiss doctor, philosopher, nature mystic, alchemist, lay theologian and social ethicist. Perceived primarily as a doctor, and is one of the most famous European doctors ever since the second half of the 16th century. He criticized the Hippocratic-Galenic theory of humors, which was a fundamental medical theory of his time. He reformed medicine by introducing chemical-biological-dynamic concepts and alchemical. Furthermore, he published his writings mostly in the German vernacular instead of Latin. The origins of his nickname, Paracelsus, are uncertain.