hunyadi

Here is another grouping that I picked up a while back and have yet had time to post...Still trying to translate all 4 pages that are written about it in the "Blue Bible" This is the Excelent Council Work Badge insituted in February 17th, 1977. It was instituted by the Council of Ministers, but the award was delegated to the smaller districts and their councils for bestowal. The requiremetns were an exemplary ammount of service and dedication of work to the local council for a minimum of five years. Multiple awards were allowed, however it could only be bestowed uppon an individual only once every three years. The badge came with a 3000 Hungarian Forint award. After bestowal, (following the Excelent Worker mode) your performance would be evaluted again in one month (to make sure you still have zeal?) if at that time you rwork was not seen as exemplarary - then the award and the bonus would be taken back! (the previous owner blacked out the name...not me...)

HI Dan - Rare - pricey - yes, yes. The only one that I have seen in a case was one issued to a Gold Medal Olympian - its in a dark blue oversized case with dark blue crush velvet inetrior. I mainly see these 'loose' without the case when they come up for sale, but that is not too often. Here is the reverse. Its gold plated - not solid gold. There was only one class.

HMMMMMM good point - Hollyweird here I come!

Richard - Very nice Order of Merit of Hunarian Freedom collection you have there! Now all you need is the first type!. Here is another recent aquisition. 1976 Order of Merit for the Socialist Hungary. It was to be bestowed "at the end of a long time of meritorious work, cosisting of the exemlary activity for the society, acknowledged by a structured life of seriving in part of the government and armed forces" the order was bestowed 1965 times betweeen 1976 and 1989. It carried with it an addiotinal one time pension bonus of 8000 Hungarian Forint. (about 8 months salary)

Hi Dan - Very nice - do you know what / if the differences were between the Army / Air Force / Navy? Daggers were?

Hi Doc - The "Blue Bible" as I call it is called "A Magyar Nepkoztarsasag Kituntetesei" (The Hungarian People's Republic Medals) ISBN# 963 220 641 X Unfortunatly it is not in English and the Hungarian is very "legalistic" - as it pretty much just lays out the decrees of nearly all the awards up to 1977. even has a section on the Austrio Hungarian and Horhty era awards. The legalistic Hungarian is even difficult for Hungarians to understand! But it has so much more information than the "Nagy Magyar Kit?ntet?sk?nyv" (Large Hungarian Book of Medals) - though this is an excelent book as well!

This one does not show up in the Blue Book - so its after 1977. And since that is a 1980's case - I would suspect it as a very late created award. Translation is "Young Professional Master" - Though not clear it reads Szakma (professional) not Szama - (donkey). My two gut feelings are 1) it cuould have been an award given to young university students in the professional studues. or 2) could be an award given by the KIST (Young Communists) youth group for a member's work in studying a professional field. The KIST organization introduced the youth of Hungary to a variety of professions. There is still in operation a 'Childrens RailRoad' run by youth - this was to menat to interest young pepople to the rail system of Hungary, there were also shooting and survival training for military, map reading, chemestry, construction projects, etc... all intended to get young kids interested in some field for their future.

No - you need to add the fact that you need a licence (with fees) - a background check (more fees) - a psych exam (more fees - but this one is so that you are deemed sane enough not to wear the medals in public and tell everyone about the 10 German F DVII's that you shot down in WW1) Sounds like lawyer stuff huh? - notice where we get the policiticans....

Sarge Booker and everyone else out there - before you go on any further - read this.... http://www.omsa.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1332 Be well aware - another freedom has been taken from you - and it dont matter that any congressmen stads next to MOH recipients, that smiling congresman just took you one more step down into the abyss of lots liberites that were apparently guaranteed by the Constitution of the USA. "Whether they pass the "Stolen Valor Act" or remains moot with all due respect, sir!" - Good Lord - "at least its not in my back yard" mentality

I doubt that there will not be much the post office and the feds are going to do on about opening mail. Imagine if they opened a package and it was the hard earned PH that my brother in law just got and was sending home to the folks...What is interesting is to see today how few valor medals are still listed as opposed to 48 hours ago. Thankfuly you can get your PH licence plate and DSC challenge coin...

a fantastic piece - but where to get the money...

and the reverse - notice the massive brace. Also of interest is the older ribbon. It has the wire hook system and not the flat metal tab that was introduced in the 1960's to cut down on produciton cost and time. (bending wire takes time as opposed to just sewing on an aluminum tab)

Picked this up today - an Order of Merit for Outstanding Service, yes it looks just like the 1957 model known as the Distinguished Service Medal - but this has to be a post 1964 model as there is a massive brace behind the star and an aluminum insert to make the trifold ribbon hang 'straight' on the medal bar. This feature is found on late 1970's to 80's models.

Also - following the theme of "Hungary was a poor nation" - was the fact that Hungary did not have a big button industry and so therefore we see many imports from other nations. I have seen buttons from Germany, but perhaps the more intresting were the buttons (and even bolts of wool fabric) from England! Here are the 'gut sucker' interior belt buttons

A couple of features that are common - but not all the time - with these custom made tunics. First off is a shot of the 'end of the roll'. At the end of the bolts of gaberdine wool material (as far as I understand) there was a strip of the national colors. Here we see a small portion of it poking out of a seam.

Here is the reverse of the interior -

A few more shots of the Csendor tunic - here is a shot of the interior.

Its an interesting methond in which they shot the F-117 down. Everything has and Achillies Heel in the end. I recal my father reveiewing data durng the Nam conflict in which the Navy decided to investigate damage on returning aricraft from combat missions. Damage was assessed and the Navy crunched the data to find means and averages of the damaged sections and then made the apropriate plans to 'harden' those sections of the plane(s). Made sense right? Till someone figured out that the damaged areas were not severe enough and the planes were making it back to the carrier / airfiled. Then some Navy officer asked the right question - why dont they harden those areas that were not hit as clearly those were the areas that were briging down the aricraft as those ones never made it home?

As far as I know - certainly - if you worked for company X and got the 'standard' badge then got a job with a more specific industry then you got the badge for that pecific section etc...these could all be worn at any time. More often members of the Munkasor "Workers Militia" wore these with pride - but for an individual to get several variaitons from different trades - it was possible but probably not that common as most people lived and worked for the same company for life. Thsoe that moved around from job to job were not that common. It also has to be remembered that the average 'grunt' worker would almost alwyas get the 'standard' hanging star badge. To get ones like this one posted and the other more 'specific' type - you were more than likely a college or universtiy grad.

Yes and No, the "excellent workers' badge" was still awarded for factory, profesional, semi-profesional, etc... There were "other" "excelent workers badges" for some trades (if they fell under the juristiction of certain 'councils' that were for some reason given permission to issue their own unique badges) IE - if you were the engineer for say the spoon facotry after 1957 and you did a good job, you would get the standard Kivalo Dolgozol award. But say you were the engineer working for the food distribution in the 1960's - and that one council for food distribution had been granted by the Council of Ministers to create and bestow their own awards - then that is what you were awarded. Clear as mud eh? But these certain 'industries' were few and far between it seems and by and large the most common 'Excelent Workers Badges' were the hanging star type. By the 1970's I think there may have been some contention as certian industires just got their own "special" looking badges while others doing similar (and perhaps even more valiant work) got the "standard" hanging star type. Then in the 1970's they went crazy with a whole slew of new and various badges. It seems at this point that the Council of Ministers created and then delegated the medals to various smaller 'Councils' to make and bestow their own designs and requirements. So by the mid 1970's you see these type of badge appearing for all sorts of things (but I still have seen only most in reference material) This was (I think) a product of a rapidly expanding goevernment and the result of a period refered to here as the "Frigidair Socailsim" where the Hungarian gov began to release the grip of control and began to trade with the west as well. (the standard of living went up dramaticaly so much so that the govenrment introduced a personal income tax!)

yes - that is the second class (silver). Funny thing about the 1970's era ones can still be found for $10-20 easily - but compared to the 1948-53 era - double and triple the prices. Mainly it boils down to the fact that after 1956 the 'new' Hungarian Coat of Arms, required that the older badges to be turned in and replaced with new ones with the post 1956 Coat of Arms. Many of the 'old stock' was destroyed or simply the old coat of arms was taken off and a new one put in place. Hence the pre 1956 stuff is more rare as the government tried all efforts to take them away. As for rarity - from 1948 to 1989 there were over 300 variations of the 'Kivalo' workers badges - I have seen and handled probably 30+ variants, others I have only seen in a privatly published book, and then ones like this one - I have only seen folks getting off of Ebay and the like. It is rare - probably - considering that an individual had to come up with some invention and patent it to be awarded one. (an Award document would even be mroe rare!) But then in the "Blue Book" there is mention of 'Excelent Doctor, Teacher, Sportsman, Heavy Industry, Construction, etc...' So to determine numbers based on a society that has remained about 10 million citizens elligible? Unfortunatly when the Blue Book was published in 1977 they did not make mention of how many were awarded.

According to the Hungarian "Blue Book" - the Kivalo Ujito - was instituted on Oct 30th, 1974 by the Ministers Council it was to be awarded uppon recomendation of the 'Council of Technical Innovation' (my rough translation) It was awarded for innovation, invention, etc... in the technical fields. The badge came in Gold, Silver and Bornze classes and came with a monetary award that was determined by the "Council of Technical Innovation" its interesting to see that the many 'variants' to the "Kivalo" awards in the 1970's reverted back to traditional images of the 1948-52 badges. Still have yet to find one here...

The interesting history of the Freedom Medal is that the fisrt form was discontinued as the face looke to many to be the face of Jesus Christ - not the freedom fighter Kossuth Lajos of 1848 fame. How could Christ be a symbol of liberation the Hungarians under Soviet occupation thought? Also the long service cross is for the 1911-1918 period not the Royal Hungarian period (1922-44). There were no long service awards with dates until 1964 (!).

Been meaning to make this up for a while - using the Hungarian "Blue Book" (published in 1977) the Hungarian Big Book of Awards (2005) and a award doc precidene from the 1980's - and the reminder of Eric - here is as complete list as I can make. There are some obscure ones like the Customs Officials Medals and such that I cant find precedence for yet...but its as good as it gets today. 1) Hero of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 2) Hero of Socialist Labor 3) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic in Diamonds 4) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 5) Order of Merit for Peace and Amity 6) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic in Rubies 7) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 1st Class 8) Order of Merit for the Socialist Nation 9) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 1st Class 10) Kossuth Order 1st Class 11) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic with Laurel Wreath 12) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 13) Red Flag Order of Labor 14) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 2nd Class 15) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 2nd Class 16) Order of Merit of Hungarian Freedom Silver Class 17) Kossuth Order 2nd Class 18) Order of Merit of the Socialist Hungary 19) Return of Rule to the Workers and Peasants Medal 20) Order of Labor Gold Class and / or Order of Merit of the Red Star 21) Flag Order of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 3rd Class 22) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 3rd Class 23) Kossuth Order 3rd Class 24) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 4th Class 25) Order of Merit of Hungarian Freedom Bronze Class 26) Order of Merit of the Hungarian Peoples Republic 5th Class 27) Order of Labor Silver Class and / or Merit Medal of Socialist Labor and / or Distinguished Service Medal 28) Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Gold Class 29) Sports Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Gold Class 30) Order of Labor Bronze Class and / or Meritorious Service Medal 31) Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Silver Class 32) Sports Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Silver Class 33) Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Bronze Class 34) Sports Merit Medal of the Hungarian Peoples Republic Bronze Class 35) Medal of Honor Commemorating 1848 ?1948 36) Commemorative Medal of the Hungarian Soviet Republic 37) Jubilee Medal of Liberation 38) Merit Medal for Service to the Country in Gold 39) Meritorious Service Medal for 3000 Flying Hours 40) Meritorious Service Medal for 40 Years of Service 41) Meritorious Service Medal for 3000 Parachute Jumps 42) Meritorious Service Medal for 2500 Flying Hours 43) Meritorious Service Medal for 35 Years of Service 44) Meritorious Service Medal for 2500 Parachute Jumps 45) Meritorious Service Medal for 2000 Flying Hours 46) Meritorious Service Medal for 30 Years of Service 47) Meritorious Service Medal for 2000 Parachute Jumps 48) Meritorious Service Medal for 1500 Flying Hours 49) Meritorious Service Medal for 25 Years of Service 50) Merit Medal for Service to the Country in Silver 51) Meritorious Service Medal for 1500 Parachute Jumps 52) Meritorious Service Medal for 1000 Flying Hours 53) Meritorious Service Medal for 20 Years of Service 54) Meritorious Service Medal for 1000 Parachute Jumps 55) Merit Medal for Service to the Country in Bronze 56) Meritorious Service Medal for 500 Flying Hours 57) Meritorious Service Medal for 15 Years of Service 58) Meritorious Service Medal for 500 Parachute Jumps 59) Meritorious Service Medal for 10 Years of Service 60) Public Security Medal in Gold 61) Fire Prevention Medal in Gold 62) Public Security Medal in Silver 63) Fire Prevention Medal in Silver 64) Public Security Medal in Bronze 65) Fire Prevention Medal in Bronze Foreign Awards