103100 | GERMANY & FRANCE. "The Watch on the Ruhr" cast bronze Medal.

103100  |  GERMANY & FRANCE. "The Watch on the Ruhr" cast bronze Medal. Dated 1923. "Die Wacht an der Ruhr" (58mm, 90.40 g, 12h). By Karl Goetz in München.

 

DIE • WACHT AN • DER • RUHR! (the watch on the Ruhr!), head of Marianne left, wearing Phrygian cap with whip tucked behind her ear // DIE • WEISSE SCHMACH • (the white shame), Marianne facing, with head slightly left, strangling a German man by tightening a rope around his neck; AUS PARISER JOVRNAL on banner below. Edge: K•GoeTz.

 

Kienast 299; cf. Böttcher Coll. 5758. Choice Mint State. Tan-brown surfaces.

 

An analog to the many "black shame" medals of the early 1920's, this piece satirizes the alleged crimes committed by French troops stationed in the Rhineland, with the French occupation as a whole represented by Marianne—the allegory of France—quite brutally strangling a German man.

 

Upload: 1 October 2025.