decker

Long service badges for personnel in justice/jurisdiction (judges, advocats, ministerial staff, warders) (There is a topic for awards like these, but I thought they wouldn't have fitted there.) There were badges for 10, 20 and 30 years of service in justice. They were being awarded during the socialist era, the decision concerning long service awards in general was abrogated in 1988. (Though there are some companies still using long service awards. Not national, but their own ones, of course.)

My set of shoulderboards and kragenspiegel - a judicial one (nebenfarbe hellblau) with the rank of a major. (Kriegsgerichtsrat / Heeresjustizamtmann)

Awesome collection! Very nice!

Yes, Zsolt is right. Oroszl?ny is a small town near my hometown. In Kom?rom-Esztergom county there were a widespread layer of coal under ground which had been being brought to surface from the 1930's through 3 or 4 main shafts. One of them (and the only one still working) was the one in the vicinity of Oroszl?ny.

B?ny?sz Szolg?lati ?rdem?rem /Mining Service Medal/ What I know about it: It was founded in 1956. This kind of service medal was awarded to the personnel being employed in the mining industry "for participating in the building of socialism by continuous good and disciplined work". Not only the people working under ground could get them, but the ones in the administrative staff, as well. The medals were usually given to the awardees on the 'Day of Miners' in each year (that is held on the first sunday in September). There were three regular classes (bronze, silver and gold) and one special/rare class in 'diamond' from 1984, that looked a little different than the other three classes (full back, larger crest, different hanger, etc). I have seen each class of these medals in award cases, but all my copies came in plastic folders together with the documents. (I will try to scan the folders, too.) The reason for the award was a certain measure of time in service. Br: 10 years of service under ground or 15 years administrative service; Si: 20/25 years of service; Go: 25/30 years of service; Di: 30/35 years of service. Service time was count from 4th April, 1945. The medals and documents below were awarded to my grandfather in 1960, 1970 and 1975. He had never got the diamond class. The collection is not complete, because I couldn't find the bronze medal (though my grandpa, my grandma and my father also had their own copy...) As soon as I pick one up, I will upload an image of it. Some info about the owners of the signatures on the documents: dr. M?nnich Ferenc - Fock Jenő - L?z?r Gy?rgy

Here are the two classes of Kiv?l? ?j?t? I told you about (gold and bronze; click the pics for larger version):

I checked my copies and I was right - they are gold and bronze. I'll upload them today.

Yes, I was right. I remembered I had seen this kind of crossed swords before. Just check the bar for the Hindenburg cross in the middle. The swords are very similar to the one we can see in Charles' photo. Aren't they? What if the guy in the picture was not hungarian, but german? I have seen a lot of german awarded medal- and ribbonbars with the Hungarian Commemorative Medal among german medals. He could easily find HC's swords in Germany. Another fact is, that the HCM was awarded in two forms: with crossed swords (and a helmet) on the medal itself for combatants, and without them for non-combatants. The ribbons were also different, so you didn't have to put a pair of swords on the ribbon to show you got it as a combatant - the ribbon and the medal showed it clearly.

I finally found the right place to let Charles and Gordon know that I wish them good luck in hosting this subforum! They make very effective efforts on letting the people know about some of the great history of my small country. Congrats! Chris

Interesting topic! I met Farkas Bertalan once when I was spending my military service at the HKP (National Draft Agency). He was - as I remember - in the rank of a (retired) lt.col. then.

The best translation seems to be "excellent innovator". The badge is not a worthy one in my opinion. Here in Hungary you can get them for about 6 to 15 USD, though they couldn't be that common. (You had to do something more than the average for getting them, and doing something extra was not a common habit - as it isn't these days) The badge had three grades; I have one in gold and one in bronze (as I remember) with miniatures and cases, from my grandpa. The one above seems to be a silver one with the silver cover lost (or is it just me?).

Here it is. I hope it helps. This is an extremely rare piece, coz there is no other copy I could break the needle's catch of...

Here's one with numbers engraved on the backside. Awarded in May, 1953. I have the document too (the little brownish-red book), but the number is not mentioned in it.

Yes, he was. I was born and raised in a town called Tatab?nya (b?nya = mine), and my parents and grandparents all worked for the mining corporation (though not under ground). My grandpa told us stories about a miner in the 50's, who made some adjustments to his shovel to make it wider as letting him put more coal into the carriages with one move. He made 2-3 times the work of an average miner during the same time. Of course he got the stakhanovist badge in no time. And all the miners wanted to be like him. OFF: There was a lot of disfunctional things in that era of socialism, but having people work was operable. There was a saying (one of our leaders said, maybe): "Work is a matter of honour and glory"

K?szi! Magyar vagyok. Gondolom, te is, de r?g?ta ?lsz az US?ban.

I have resized and put them to imageshack now. What about them? Working?

Here's a card for the Transylvania Medal

Nice piece! The stamps are a 9-piece series published in 1943. As their text says, some of the amount paid for them went for the War's Victims Care.

At last I found a topic I can post my pictures to... Here's my table of medals. There are a few among them, that I haven't seen here before. Click the pic for full size The medals: (upper line) Signum Laudis (Merit Medal with the Crown) (for military merit) silver Signum Laudis (Merit Medal with the Crown) (to a civilian) bronze Hungarian Bronze Merit Medal (on military ribbon awarded in peace) Bronze Bravery Medal Merit Cross (socalled "Firecross") for the 1942 campaign in tombak National Defense Cross (lower line) WWI Commemorative Medal with helmet and swords (for combatants) Service Cross for 20 years of service Service Cross dor 10 years of service Commemorative Medal for reoccupation of Northern Hungary Commemorative Medal for reoccupation of Transylvania and East-Hungarian parts Commemorative Medal for reoccupation of Southern Hungary

Thanks for welcoming me! Your informations are correct. The WM medal was awarded countlessly, there are very much of them. I also have a copy with award document, case, miniature and ribbon.

A breathtaking set of photos! I am in Hungary and been into militaria for a year and a half, but had never seen such a nice album... I don't know if you are hungarian, but if you are, you should check http://www.netlabor.hu/roncskutatas/ (It is a forum page dedicated to Hungarian WWII militaria) These pictures should be post there as well. (If you are not familiar with hungarian language I would like to ask you to permit me to post them there, please (with the source noticed, of course))

I also have a KO cross, but it looks different from the ones above...

And can you tell me from the photos what the white stuff at the core's edge is?

Some more pictures: