DDR DDR Held der Arbeit Heinz Kunert

[Ed_Haynes]

Another Held der Arbeit Heinz Kunert - have no idea who he is. Just his HdA and hard-covered document.

[Ed_Haynes]

The badge, Barter 53i.

[Ed_Haynes]

The badge. (Not the world's greatest scan, sorry.)

[Ed_Haynes]

The ribbon bar - maybe nicer than the medal?

[Ed_Haynes]

His certificate, uninformative as usual. From 27 March 1981.

[Ed_Haynes]

So . . . just WHO is/was Heinz Kunert???

[ehrentitle]

So . . . just WHO is/was Heinz Kunert???

I believe he may have been a musician who was popular in the DDR in the 60s and 70s. I've seen Heinz-Kunert-Quartett Amiga records advertised on E-bay in the past. Kevin

[Ed_Haynes]

I believe he may have been a musician who was popular in the DDR in the 60s and 70s. I've seen Heinz-Kunert-Quartett Amiga records advertised on E-bay in the past. Kevin

Fascinating, thanks Kevin. Need to seek his records, then.

[Hauptmann]

Fascinating, thanks Kevin. Need to seek his records, then.

Hi Ed,

Fantastic set! Far beyond anything I'll probably have but glad it's in good hands!

Just to let you know I did a quick google search the other day in the hope that something might pop up... wasn't sure if you'd tried that or not. There was a musician or two that popped up with that last name... and I believe one of them was mentioned as having been awarded the Held der Arbeit. Pull up google and pop in his name and you'll see the listings. Perhaps he goes by another name or is related?

Hope you can find out for sure. Be great if you could find a picture to go with the set... would definitely be the icing on the cake!

Thanks so much for sharing this!

Dan

[Grant Broadhurst]

That would be great to put a face to the name !

[Paul R]

Beautiful sets!!!!!

[Guest Rick Research]

Though of course one might wonder what sort of music made one a DDR Hero of Labor:

"My Heart Thuds For You Like A Heavy Industrial Press, My Internationalist Sweetheart"

or maybe

"You Excite Me Almost As Much As Surpassing The 5 Year Plan Quota, Beloved"

?

Still, I suppose this is about the same as knighthoods for geriatric British rockers and so on.

[Grant Broadhurst]

Though of course one might wonder what sort of music made one a DDR Hero of Labor:

"My Heart Thuds For You Like A Heavy Industrial Press, My Internationalist Sweetheart"

or maybe

"You Excite Me Almost As Much As Surpassing The 5 Year Plan Quota, Beloved"

?

Still, I suppose this is about the same as knighthoods for geriatric British rockers and so on.

I never knew you were a musical genius Rick !!!!!

[Ed_Haynes]

After some digging, most likely the progressive rock musician (bass and bass pedals), see: http://www.progressiveears.com/asp/reviews...mp;albumID=1673 and http://www.alexgitlin.com/npp/epid.htm and http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_ro....asp?cd_id=2813

[Ed_Haynes]

Ahhhh . . . we now have another candidate: The Dresden-based composer ("Dresden Sketches") and musician Heinz Kunert. Seems more likely than "the other Heinz"? Or is he too young? Still active in 2006.

See: http://www.dresden.de/800/de/04/03/c_85.ht...bd02e56d7c11781

[Bryan]

You have a nice late version of the Order of the held der Arbeit. I was amased how cheap these later versions were done when I saw the one from a collector friend last summer. The order is so light!

Ed can you tell us if the document is really hand signed by Honecker and not printed?

[Ed_Haynes]

You have a nice late version of the Order of the held der Arbeit. I was amased how cheap these later versions were done when I saw the one from a collector friend last summer. The order is so light!

I don't have an earlier one to compare with. I have only this solo HdA and the Dankward Fehr group -- see http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=2455 -- with his HdA from 7 October 1984. (Kunert's is earlier, 27 March 1981.)

Ed can you tell us if the document is really hand signed by Honecker and not printed?

Will bring both home and get back to you. I suspect they're printed, but will see.

[Bryan]

Ed, if you don't mind I will post pictures from my friend's award that I have photographed last summer and posted on a French forum.

For a so prestigious order I was surprised of his poor quality. The earlier ones were much nicer and heavier with some gold I think. The very first ones were also numbered.

Somebody said on another forum that the earlier Worker's Hero orders sell for about 1500 EUR and the later one (Honecker period) sell for around 350-400 EUR right now.

Original signature from Honecker

[Ed_Haynes]

Interesting. Thanks, Soviet!