The Weimar Constitution of 1919 contained a sentence on decorations. Article 109 said: Orden und Ehrenzeichen dürfen vom Staat nicht mehr verliehen werden. Orders and decorations may no longer be awarded by the state. No German was allowed to accept a title or an order from a foreign government.
The Federal Republic returned to a state order in 1951. Federal President Theodor Heuss founded the Order of Merit on 7 September 1951, the second anniversary of the Federal Republic.
The German Historical Museum notes that orders have met with criticism again and again. It records a saying from the war and the first years after it: Bomben und Orden treffen immer die Falschen. Bombs and medals always hit the wrong people.