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    Carol I

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    Posts posted by Carol I

    1. On 08/10/2023 at 17:07, tifes said:

      There is another fact confirmed, which was discussed here. Gebr. Resch had its branch in Romania, Bucharest. 

      1858:

      image.png.9731a03d8ed4a6bc5d135764561cf0d5.png

      The "Podu mogosoe" address in Bucharest is "Podul Mogoșoaiei", the main thoroughfare of the city at that time, hosting among others the Royal Palace. It was named "Calea Victoriei" on 12 October 1878, honouring the Romanian victory in the Independence War of 1877–1878.

      On 24/10/2023 at 05:43, farmer said:

      Josef Resch build his house in Theater district in Bucarest between 1855-57, top floors were the living quarters and the ground floor became their main store. House was sold in 1880 but the retail location remained there, until at least when Heinrich died in 1930. The actual workshop was in another part of Bucarest. Considered provider to the Royal House of Romania at least by 1881, their biggest business was clocks and watches and custom jewellery plus they imported fine things from different parts of Europe. Some of the earliest Romanian orders were retailed by them but in all likelihood made in Austria first (Fischmeister, possibly others).

      The address of the house and shop was Calea Victoriei 52. Here is a link to the history of the place:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Passage

       

      ... and the house on Google Maps:

      https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4364826,26.097865,3a,75y,39.75h,103.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPDVYem1jhoUN265UM_aq2w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

    2. 29 minutes ago, Alex K said:

      Just seen thi thread and getting back to original post if i may, i have this example wherectge swords appear to be on tge reverse side of the medal, not tge obverse as indicated on other examples posted, also they appear to he well fitted as if they were integral, any comments welcome

       

       

      In this old thread there is a photo of a medal bar with a similar knight's cross, albeit on Military Virtue ribbon:

      post-950-0-54131000-1296079906.jpg

    3. On 30/12/2022 at 02:38, Rusty Greaves said:

      Dear Carol I, many thanks for posting these images of the breast star of the Order of Ismail, the Nishal al-Kamal, the Order of the Nile (with a red sash rather than the correct blue and yellow one), and the Order of the Republic. I really appreciate getting to see these pieces from the National Museum of Romanian History! Cheers, Rusty

      I am glad you liked the images. I remember some more mixups than the wrong ribbon of the Order of the Nile, but in the end I liked that the orders survived through the ups and downs of history.

    4. On 19/11/2022 at 23:12, Rusty Greaves said:

      There is an example of a 2nd Class Grand Officer Order of Ismail in the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest (https://www.mnir.ro/portfolio/onoarea-natiunilor-ordine-si-decoratii-ii/). There are no online images of this set, and it is unclear whether it includes both the breast star and neck badge or not. The Inventory # is 126489. The minimal online information identifies this as the Grand Officer Class award, and the diameter of the breast star is identified as 70 mm, confirming that designation. A weight of 82.95 g is given, probably for the breast star. There is no mention of the neck badge and no measurements are provided for that, making out uncertain whether the holding includes the neck badge. Other Egyptian Orders in the collection of the National Museum of Romanian History include: an Order of Al-Kamal (Inventory #: 37459 a-c), probably a Supreme Class of this award as it was conferred on Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938, last Queen of Romani who reigned from 1914-1927); a Grand Officer Class Order of the Nile (Inventory #: 126490 a-b); and a Commander Class Republic-era Order of Merit (Inventory #: 126491). 

       

       

       

       

       

      Here are some images of these pieces, on display in a temporary exhibition many years ago:

      Ismail1.thumb.jpg.eee80ebb0704a9eef28895adca1ebace.jpgIsmail2.thumb.JPG.7fd0e4096d854025a3e62080ff82f3a6.JPG

      Al-Kamal.thumb.JPG.81ce5d14a4eaa1fdb525b5791718de42.JPGNile.thumb.jpg.b0acb82f8c70996f0e11fabf48a03a7b.jpgRepublic.thumb.jpg.311122db356425c2e680dca3f6db857d.jpg

      image.gif

    5. I remembered two other generals that should be mentioned in relation to Eastern front activities, both receiving for those activities the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords 3rd class after the Order of Michael the Brave 2nd class on the Eastern front, General Avramescu who was most likely assassinated by the Soviets and General Dumitrache who survived many years after the war.

       

      The complexity of the topic increases if we take into account the members of the Soviet Tudor Vladimirescu Division that fared somewhat better in post-war years, including its high ranking officers. They probably received more or higher ranking Soviet decorations.

       

      Regarding Soviet decorations awarded to Romanian officers, some names are mentioned in the following topic on a related forum.

    6. 8 hours ago, Bayern said:

      Carol I ,thanks for your data ! General Dicezare was a notable fighter pilot in the 7 Grupul Vanatoare and fought in Stalingrad , over 500 combat missions and a kill count of 16 confirmed and 3 non confirmed . but its all that i could find ,nothing about him after August 1944 but he must have continued in service and after December 1947 also 

      Dicezare fought on the Eastern Front with Grupul 1 Vanatoare.

       

      Another example is Ion Dobran (1919-2021) who fought on both fronts, was dismissed from the army in the 1950s and could work as a pilot only in the 1960s. The photo below shows him with his WWII awards (including one replacement decoration), as well as a modern one. Several other decorations are on his ribbon bar.

      IonDobran.thumb.jpg.146cea8fe59cefb4b1158549c93c355f.jpg

       

      Another flyer that had a somewhat smoother career was B. Ferderber, the navigator of YR-IMB when he used his WWII knowledge and who was apparently decorated for that incident.

       

      Changing the branch, please look at the life of General N. Dascalescu, who fought on both fronts, was dismissed from the army, thrown into jail, released (apparently at the intervention of Czechoslovakian communist authorities) and eventually reinstated in the rank and pension. Some anecdotal evidence mentions that he was allowed to wear an uniform and the decorations he received on the Western front, but he refrained any further collaboration with the Romanian authorities at that time.

    7. You have brought up a very difficult topic, for the veterans, for the authorities and for the historians, one in which the context influenced very much the treatment of people, events and awards.

       

      Between 1944 and 1947, awards were made with the national system of orders irrespective of whether the awardee had or had not been on the Eastern front. Some officers received higher classes of the orders for Western front activities after those received for Eastern front activities. In fact there were also cases when Eastern front participants received awards for activities on the Eastern front after the Soviets became the allies. The only notable difference was the Order of Michael the Brave being replaced by the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords (speculations were that this was done at the pressure of the Soviets who were suspicious of the awards made to high German officers). Old awards could be worn, but it was war followed by troubled years and events were rather few.

       

      The Soviet-backed Communist takeover in Romania intended to create a rift with "the old regime" after 1947. The proclamation of the republic also brought an annulment of the national system of orders. New decorations were created to reward the loyality to the new regime. Wearing the old decorations was banned and there was a program for exchanging old decorations with new ones (however I do not have details). This had limited effect as the armed forces were gradually purged of old members who in many cases also faced many years of repression. The authorities recognised/celebrated only Western front veterans (mostly low ranks) as WWII veterans. Few of the veterans received Czechoslovakian and probably Soviet awards (again I do not have details).

       

      Only the beginning of the 1990s brought a more balanced treatment and a recognition of the awardees of old royal orders. The WWII Commemorative Cross was issued in mid-1990s to the few WWII survivors and replacement insignia for WWII-awards were also made/circulated. Old surviving decorations were taken out of drawers and dusted out for public events, but after 50+ years the numbers of the awardees was extremely low. Nevertheless, new and old awards were once again mixed on new uniforms:

       

      14276.thumb.jpg.141e82faac177e1bbcf2976d14b29272.jpg

      General Ioan Dicezare (1916-2012) - Source: Agerpres

    8. On 09/02/2022 at 10:27, numis said:

      I have none , but am interested in acquiring ,awards to the Romanian forces which fought against Germany in the latter stages of World War Two

      My reference books do not cover this specifically 

      What were the awards ( and related documents / certificates etc ) that applied ?

      Is there any standard group of awards to a recipient who participated that one should look out for ?

       

      Can you give more details on what you are interested? The awards were those in the national system of orders and in many/most cases the awardees went up in the hierarchy of orders. The only exception was the Order of Michael the Brave with Swords replacing the Order of Michael the Brave (including resetting the advance through classes). However, many awards were hidden or converted after the communist takeover. And I assume that Soviet and Czechoslovakian medals may also be considered as possible.

    9. On 21/01/2022 at 18:02, VtwinVince said:

      Good that this topic has been revived. Does anyone know what actually remains on display at Huis Doorn these days? I saw a video of the collection back in the '80's which was quite astonishing.

      The collection is interesting, but in terms of ODMs on display it is rather disappointing (or it was in 2017).

      IMG_5822.thumb.jpg.816168920a7679dc508ffbde52fe47f3.jpg

       

      But things like these are probably also somewhere in the inventory...

      IMG_1185.jpg.a0156fc24612069dd3c979ed1e8302e9.jpg

      IMG_1195.thumb.jpg.0c6c793b9b1758e01ecee0f71122f8cf.jpg

    10. On 05/11/2021 at 20:08, Nihil Sine Deo said:

      I have bought this wonderful Romanian Eagle Honour Sign made by the jeweller Heinrich Weiss and I have some questions:

      Congratulations, if authentic it is a rare piece.

       

      On 05/11/2021 at 20:08, Nihil Sine Deo said:

      Can anybody help me with more informations about the number of awarded people or maybe some books where I can find the recipients?

      You may try contacting the Parliament or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if they have surviving archives on the awardees of this order.

       

      On 05/11/2021 at 20:08, Nihil Sine Deo said:

      It is possible that the Eagle could be made of gold? I’ve looked carefully and I couldn’t find any differences of color.

      The eagle has some details indicating that it has been cast as opposed to being struck. Probably very few of these signs have been made to have accurate statistics, but it was rather unusual to use gold for the Romanian orders of the period.

       

      On 05/11/2021 at 20:08, Nihil Sine Deo said:

      The Eagle has some kind of hallmark, a triangle. What could that mean? 

      Hallmark for silver. It is unfortunately incomplete to indicate purity.

    11. The medal was under the responsability of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce/Economy (it had different names at various times). Maybe they can cross-check names in their archives (I do not know though whether the medal has its own archive and if it has survived until now). The alternative would be to try to guess which of the possible recipients had connections with Romania.

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