Well, the latter is how the Knight's Cross worked. The KC was the highest level of the Iron Cross apart from the Grand Cross (which was more of a political award, in practice if not theory), and the Oak Leaves, etc. weren't higher levels so much as a "the Knight's Cross, again. And again." kind of a thing. I.e, it wasn't possible to win the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves outright no matter what amazing thing you did, you had to have the regular version first.

The classes of the Order of the Golden Kite worked a little differently in that they were partly tied to one's rank (Nazi medals explicitly didn't work that way as part of the Reich's "one nation, one people, one leader" principle), but a similar mechanic could've been applied in practice.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
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