The medal was instituted on 17 May 1956 and was awarded to East Germans who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the republicans.

[1][2] The medal was named after Hans Beimler, the first commissar of the German Communist contingent and the XI International Brigade in Spain.

[2] The medal is round, on the front there is a depicting of Hans Beimler surrounded with its name and the dates of his birth and death (1895–1936).

The medal is suspended from rectangular ribbon bar (the ribbon is in full length in the version for army members) of red, yellow, and violet horizontal strips in equal proportion, these were the colors of the Spanish Republican Flag.

[2][3] On the outer edges of both sides are narrow vertical strips of black, red, and gold, the colors of the German Flag.