The Iron Cross, a German military medal, wasn’t invented by the Nazi government, but it has become synonymous with Hitler’s regime. You can therefore imagine the upset when the German Defence Minister recently announced plans to award a medal much like the Iron Cross to soldiers serving in Afghanistan. After a few days of complaints from groups across a broad spectrum, the design was dropped. This blog on the Independent gives you the history of the Iron Cross by way of suggesting it should be reclaimed from the Nazis, something I’m not a fan of.