| Resistance Memorial Cross Verzetsherdenkingskruis | |
| Presenter: | The Netherlands |
| Type: | Commemorative medal |
| Established: | 29 December 1980 |
| Total Awarded: | 15,000 |
| Higher: | War Memorial Cross |
| Lower: | Medal for Order and Peace |
The Resistance Memorial Cross or Resistance Commemorative Cross (Dutch; Flemish: Verzetsherdenkingskruis) is a medal awarded in the Netherlands to members of the Dutch resistance during the Second World War.
The medal was instituted by Royal Decree (No. 104) on 29 December 1980, after the 35th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands. It is worn after the War Memorial Cross and before the Medal for Order and Peace. The cross is only awarded at the request of a person eligible to receive it. Approximately 15,000 have been awarded, recorded in the Gedenkenboek verzetsherdenkingskruis.
The Resistance Memorial Cross may be awarded to:[1]
The medal comprises a silver cross hung from a striped ribbon. The obverse of the cross bears a vertical flaming sword, surmounted by the Dutch royal crown. Below the sword are the dates 1940 above 1945. The horizontal arms of the cross are inscribed with the words DE TYRANNY VERDRYVEN (Dutch: "to expel tyranny"), a line in the Dutch national anthem. The reverse bears a Dutch lion, and the date of institution, 1980. The cross is suspended by a ring from a ribbon coloured with asymmetric stripes: the left half is red-white-blue (for the Dutch flag) and the right half orange (the national color of the Netherlands) with a black border on each edge.[2]
It should not be confused with the rarer and more prestigious Dutch Cross of Resistance (Dutch: Verzetskruis), the second highest decoration for valour in the Netherlands, which was instituted in 1946 and awarded to only 95 people. There was a belief after the War that awarding medals would make distinctions between different acts of resistance, all of which would have been punishable by death. After a first round of awards were made of the Dutch Cross of Resistance in 1946, it became politically difficult to agree a list of further recipients.