The Order of the Marble Star of David
Operation Benjamin’s highest honor
Some acts of service do more than advance a mission. They make possible achievements that once seemed beyond reach.
The Order of the Marble Star of David is the highest and most exclusive honor conferred by Operation Benjamin. Established by our Board of Directors and incorporated into our bylaws, it recognizes living individuals whose contributions to our mission have been extraordinary and transformational. Through leadership, moral courage, ingenuity, or exceptional generosity, these individuals have helped change what our organization can accomplish.
The Order is deliberately rare. It is not an annual award, nor is it presented according to a fixed schedule. Each conferral must meet the exceptional standards established in our bylaws and receive the required supermajority approval of the Board of Directors. It recognizes contributions of such consequence that ordinary expressions of appreciation would not suffice.
Its purpose is captured in the words of its founding framework: “not to create hierarchy, but to enshrine gratitude.”
A symbol of the work we hold sacred
The award takes the form of a sculpted replica of a Star of David military headstone. Each is individually numbered and bears a citation honoring its recipient’s particular contribution.
The symbolism is inseparable from our purpose. The same form that restores a soldier’s Jewish identity at a graveside becomes an expression of gratitude to someone whose actions have helped make that work possible.
In presenting the Order, we honor more than an achievement. We honor the willingness to accept responsibility for memory, to act upon historical truth, and to restore dignity where it has too long been denied.
Recipients of the Order
This page preserves the names, citations, and stories of those entrusted with Operation Benjamin’s highest honor. Their example reminds us that remembrance is not only something we inherit. It is something we must choose to practice.
No. 001: Secretary General Dirk Backen
German War Graves Commission (Volksbund)
Brigadier General, German Army, retired
Presented during the Meuse-Argonne Mission 2026, France
Operation Benjamin was privileged to present the first Order of the Marble Star of David to Secretary General Dirk Backen in recognition of leadership that helped restore a fallen American soldier to his rightful resting place and opened an entirely new chapter in the remembrance of Jewish soldiers.
The first presentation
The presentation of Award No. 001 during the Meuse-Argonne Mission 2026.
A promise that became a partnership
In July 2023, General Backen wrote to Operation Benjamin concerning First Lieutenant Nathan Baskind, a Jewish American officer buried in a mass grave at Marigny German War Cemetery in Normandy. The obstacles to recovering his remains were formidable. Yet General Backen recognized that, even if recovery proved impossible, Lieutenant Baskind should not remain without a Star of David marking his place of rest. He closed his letter with a promise: “I promise you every assistance you might need.”
The partnership ultimately went much further. Through the combined efforts of Operation Benjamin, the German War Graves Commission, French authorities, the Baskind family, and other essential partners, Lieutenant Baskind’s remains were recovered and identified. In June 2024, he was buried with full military honors and Jewish rites at Normandy American Cemetery. General Backen’s leadership helped make that extraordinary outcome possible.
But his contribution did not end with the fulfillment of that promise.
A new responsibility, a new chapter
In February 2024, General Backen wrote to Shalom Lamm about a grave he had encountered during a visit to Warmeriville German Military Cemetery in northern France. A name on a cross had prompted a question. Research confirmed his suspicion: Meyer Levi was a Jewish German soldier of the First World War whose grave was marked with a Christian cross. General Backen was determined that the error should be corrected.
He had recognized that the principle at the heart of Operation Benjamin’s work could also guide the remembrance of Jewish soldiers who had served Germany.
That exchange became the beginning of Operation Levi. Within days, General Backen reported that his team was systematically searching for further cases. What began with one soldier had become a commitment to find others.
Operation Levi, a program of the German War Graves Commission in cooperation with Operation Benjamin, carries that commitment forward through research, family engagement, and the replacement of incorrectly marked graves with Stars of David.
As General Backen wrote in that first exchange:
“You see … your work is blossoming also in other gardens.”
Those words express the significance of his contribution. He did not merely support a mission already defined. He helped us recognize a responsibility we had not yet imagined undertaking.
For Operation Benjamin, his example affirms a deeply held conviction: understanding history is essential, but understanding alone is not enough. There are moments when knowledge asks something of us.
Dirk Backen answered with action.
The citation
The reverse of Award No. 001 bears these words:
Presented to
Dirk Backen
A man of war and a man of peace
A guardian of memory
Whose leadership and vision restored
honor to Jewish soldiers and truth to their legacy
In honoring Secretary General Dirk Backen, Operation Benjamin expresses
its enduring gratitude to a soldier, a guardian of memory, and a friend whose
deeds have given lasting meaning to those words.
In his own words
General Backen’s remarks at Marigny before the reburial of First Lieutenant Nathan Baskind.
At the burial of First Lieutenant Nathan Baskind
General Backen’s complete, unedited address at Lieutenant Baskind’s burial at Normandy American Cemetery.