Ed_Haynes

This will, I fear, very quickly get political -- or worse -- so I'll keep quiet. Just one historical correction (apologies to those who don't like me to use that word): The "opiate of the masses" turn of phrase was actually Engels, related to his observation that no one whose broken bone had healed should not continue to wear a cast, much as the fiction of religion would become unnecessary once the suffering of the masses (for which an opiate had been needed) abated.

While Cuba is, of course, officially athiest, it is also fairly tolerant of religion. Also the Russian church is more open than one may expect; Stalin has been discussed seriously for sainthood. Stereotypes rarely work in reality.

Yes, my point exactly. He was a GERMAN officer on loan to the allied Ottoman Empire. He was no more a Turk than he was a Hottentot. That he got awards from this ally is not surprising, many Ottomans got German awards, many Soviets got US awards, many US soldiers got awards from South Vietnam, etc. Still, a lovely German ribbon bar and it is good to see its history reclaimed and restored.

I was not trying to drag this into politics. I was just pointing out, as a correction, what the official Hungarian medal for this uprising looked like.

While also in the "Cuba" section, this belongs someplace else, but where? No logical home, so I put it here. Fidel and Raul Castro Receive Decorations from Russian Church HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 20 (acn) The Russian Orthodox Church granted its highest decoration, the Order of Glory and Honor, to the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz. The decoration was presented to Cuban President Raul Castro by Metropolitan Kiril, a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, during a ceremony at the venue of the Cuban Council of State on Sunday night. At the same time, His Eminence Kiril presented Raul with the Order Prince Daniel of Good Faith in its First Degree. ?On behalf of the Commander in Chief and also on my behalf, I ask you to convey our gratitude to His Holiness, the Patriarch of Russia, Alexei II. We are very happy with the visit of this Russian religious delegation and we hope it will repeat,? Raul said. Also on Sunday night, Raul Castro and His Eminence Kiril held a private meeting. http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1020recibendistincion.htm

Fidel and Raul Castro Receive Decorations from Russian Church HAVANA, Cuba, Oct 20 (acn) The Russian Orthodox Church granted its highest decoration, the Order of Glory and Honor, to the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz. The decoration was presented to Cuban President Raul Castro by Metropolitan Kiril, a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, during a ceremony at the venue of the Cuban Council of State on Sunday night. At the same time, His Eminence Kiril presented Raul with the Order Prince Daniel of Good Faith in its First Degree. ?On behalf of the Commander in Chief and also on my behalf, I ask you to convey our gratitude to His Holiness, the Patriarch of Russia, Alexei II. We are very happy with the visit of this Russian religious delegation and we hope it will repeat,? Raul said. Also on Sunday night, Raul Castro and His Eminence Kiril held a private meeting. http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1020recibendistincion.htm

Thanks for this, Demir!

There are some images of the orders over at the OMSA database, see http://www.omsa.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=1009

Interesting artifact of a difficult time. But, as this is posted in the "People's Republic of Hungary" sub-forum, we need to remind ourselves that this unofficial award was in no way any award of the People's Republic. The official award for these events was the Munk?s-Paraszt Hatalom?rt Eml?k?rem / Return of Rule to the Workers and Peasants Medal.

Nice. But a GERMAN "superhero", hardly a Turkish one?

Golly. If this were even a reasonably sane price, my collection just got more valuable.

It is Mongolian, written in Cyrilic script. A couple of extra letters are added from what is present in Russian to deal with Mongolian sounds. Much as Latin, English, German, French, or Polish are all written in the same "Roman" script, sort of.

Here's one. 1- Liberation Order, Military Order of Merit/Union Order, End of Occupation Decoration 2- Miltary Independence Medal, Victory Medal, Sinai Liberation Medal 3- Military Medal of Courage, Medal of Military Duty, Medal of Training, Medal of Distinguished Service 4- Medal of Long Service and Good Example, War Wounded (?), October 6th, Army Day Medal 5- 10th Anniversary of Revolution, 20th Anniversary of Revolution, ????. Kuwait Liberation Medal See also: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=20809&st=30 More to come

Done.

Nice one, Doc. If you haven't, you may want to spend some time looking at the main thread on these http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=10173 although I think a lot of rethinking on the proposed typology is in order. I'm trying to sort this out with Battushig.

No. This seems to be a very uninteresting group. No one (else) should bid on it.

Nice. We have another thread that shows some, but maybe it is time for a dedicated thread. I'll fetch mine home and post (re-post) them here.

Not sure why this is so complex: The ongoing community fiction that the post-War awards mean anything other than attractive doo-dads made up as fantasy items by enterprising Weimar capitalists to be worn by German recipients of a never-bestowed or long-discarded legitimate Ottoman award. The inability to understand this as an OTTOMAN (not "German" ) award persists. Our friends in Turkey help and attenpt to educate the community, but they lose out to received "wisdom"?

Assume this is a (another) eBay production? QED re e$cam.

There is so much "rubbish information" out there regarding this award, spread mostly by those who insist on seeing it as somehow a "German" award, made up by post-War German trinket-makers, rather that as a legitimate Ottoman award. Can this "studied ignorance" even be undone?? With the help of good friends in Turkey, maybe . . . maybe . . . ??

Yes. I tried. I failed.

Is the Paul & Paul book flawed and outdated? Certainly. What else is available in English that is as good? Nothing. The fact that better things are out there, in whatever form, only in Russian is totally irrelevant to many (most?) of us.

The only down side I can see is that, not being awards to officers, less research information is available.

One is up for auction (number unreported ) in the upcoming 22 November 2008 San Giorgio auction. As the description is only in Italian (unlike most of their items), I cannot tell whether it is screwback or pinback. Their estimate is EUR 1300-1800 (around $1666-2308), which is clearly dangerous delusional. We shall see.

Already on hold. Hope to see it here soon? Have to be satisfied with http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=19792