Peter Orincsay

Parts of my Hungarian uniform collection behind the glass..

Inspired by Chris Boonzaier?s ?Little piece of heaven? photos in his thread, I took some photos of my little piece of heaven, the room I spend most of the time. My work room. I keep most of my parts of my collections here as well as my computer and scanner. I work a lot with old historical photos. I restore, scan, colour and gather information. Here I correspond with many other collectors and photographers and friends.

A captured bunker..

The blown up bridge in the village of Kula.

Since the negatives are a part of my grandfather?s story, as well as a part in my over all Hungarian collection, i use this forum thread instead of the "Photo-display" thread for these pictures.

My grandfathers black and white negatives were much easier to scan and to work with. Here are some samples from the 1941 "D?lvid?k" (Hungarian parts of northers Yugoslavia) offensive.

I have scanned all of the color slides as well as the black and white negatives. The slides are very hard to scan since their quality is not so good as the B&W negatives. The reaso is that they were kept in glas frames and that the quality of the film material was not so developed at this time allthough I have seen som well kept slides as well here on GMIC. Here?s a sample of the slides in my collection.

Here?s something less ordinary. A Hungarian police prayer book! It?s a small pocket size book and contains religous guidelines and thoughts for using prayers in the daily life of the policeofficer.

This is a pair of a Hungarian made pilot's boots. I had these for many years and asked around since I couldn't find out it?s origin. It was actually not long ago that I got an e-mail from a guy who had seen my posted picture on a military forum page, and who owned a similar pair. He got his pair from the estate of a Hungarian WW2 pilot who used to fly a Messerschmitt in the Hungarian air force. Later I also saw the same pair of boots in the very interesting and useful book of Hungarian WW2 uniforms "A Magyar Kir?lyi Honv?ds?g Egyenruh?i 1926-1945" by Dr. T?th L?szl? ( www.huniform.com )

Here?s a closer photo of the Hungarian Order of Merit - Officers Cross. I was lucky to get a piece with the original box im near mint condition! :D

Here?s a somewhat unique cigarette case which belonged to a Mr. B?la Barna. He was working as the head adviser at the 6th districts? police headquarters during 1920-1936. This cigarette case bears a symbol of the Horthy time?s police, a uniform helmet of a police officer. He retired in 1936 and lived in Budapest together with his wife. Some years after the war he was forced to break up this life with a few hours notice. Since he used to work for the old police he was seen of the communist state as a threat and had to leave the town and settle on a farm. He and his wife lived under very poor conditions the last years of their life, living next to a pigsty, mistreated and named as fascists and bourgeoisie by the locals on the farm. Not much is left of Mr. Barna?s things today, only memories... He died in 1953 and his wife, my great grandfather?s sister was allowed to move back to Budapest after 1956 were she died not long after.

I haven?t posted many pictures of my Austro-Hungarian collection this far. Here is a Red Cross Honour Decoration 1914-1918, 2nd class (1864-1914) with war decoration. The medal made by G.A SCHEID in its original casing arrived with the mail some days ago.

I got this nice medal some years ago as a bonus in a trade. I didn?t pay much attention to it until I remembered that I can ask all you gentlemen here on this forum about it. Does anybody know for why it was awarded and to whom? This medal itself was together with some very common Hungarian and Austrian WW1 memorial medals in a group.

And the last of the buttonhole badges from my collection. The ?LEVENTE Youth? (LEVENTE Ifjus?g) badge.

The " Magyar Aero Sz?vets?g " badge.. A nice enameled badge that I unfortunately I don't know so much about.

This is the buttonhole badge for the "L?goltalmi Liga". The Hungarian civil air defence.

Mr. Sz?l was a keen photographer and took many pictures during his lifetime. Some of his original DIA-slides are a part of my collection.

The NCO, Mr. Sz?l wearing his fullsize medal.

Here?s another buttonhole badge. It?s a miniature of the Hungarian Redcross Medal of merit. This medal quite unusual and was not a very common. This specific miniature belonged to an NCO who served in the ?L?goltalmi Liga?, the civil air defense.

What does the " K.D " stad for? I have seen this on similar boxes from this time. Greetings P?ter

Here?s a small ?Buttonhole? badge of the Orsz?gos Frontharcos Sz?vets?g, (The National Front-Line Fighters? Association). This is the original white badge. The badge was later made in green with golden details instead of the silver ones seen here. The the Orsz?gos Frontharcos Sz?vets?g was founded the 24th, December 1931. Their mission was to help their disabled comrades, the widows and orphans; and to educate Europeans about the catastrophic war. Unlike many such organizations, the members acted as ambassadors of peace; closely working with veterans? groups from England and France - their former enemies. Female nursing personnel and veterans from all religions were welcome in this association, and all members, from generals to the lowest ranks, were considered equals. In September of 1939 the name was given a slightly more Hungarian flavour; Magyar T?zharcos Sz?vets?g, and continued serving the interests of the veterans and their families until the end of W.W.II. The organization lives on today through their descendants at http://www.mhbk.com/ .

Here?s the centre detail..

Although I don?t collect Hungarian Peoples Republic items, I thought it would be an interesting thing to share here. I got this small flag some years ago and had it deep in a box until my wife found it yesterday and asked if it was something I needed or wanted to keep... (She wanted to threw it out, but was polite enough to ask first) It?s a ?Competitions flag? which were passed on to the next work-brigade in the socialist quest to fulfill the plane set by the year plan. The text says; ?The competition-flag to the liberation?, ?For the outstanding work achievement?. I use the word ?Competition? because I?m not really sure what would be the right English word for such work-competition. The flag is from the ?R?kosi? times before 1956. The statue in front is the liberation statue built on the Gell?rt hill in central Budapest.

Here?s a Hungarian Cross of Merit - Bronze Class, with a red wartime trifold. I haven?t seen so many this far, besides of my own example.