Christian Zulus

Dear Christophe, congratulations to your victory #22 . I didn't have the slightest glue how to answer Frank's extra difficult question ... Best regards Christian BTW: Your quiz develops to a match of French world vs. German world . Where are all the wise English speaking collectors ...

Dear Christophe, so it might be Joe Andry or Mikhail Kazakov, I guess ? Best regards Christian

Dear Enzo, please contact me, when you & friends are coming to Vienna. I can try to organize some meetings with interesting people (in the field of phaleristics & military history of Austria). Also finding the right accomodation in Vienna, I might help you . Best regards Christian

Pavel Ivanovich Batov (1897? 1985) Dear Christophe, the comrade in question looks like Pavel Ivanovich Batov: http://www.theeasternfront.co.uk/Commander...ssian/batov.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Batov Well, he got 2x Hero of the Soviet Union, 7 Lenin, 3 Red Banners, three Orders of Suvorov 1cl and 2 Badges of Honour. Lenin + RB for Spanish Civil War and one Lenin for the Finnish War. I couldn't find out any "abnormailities" about the decorations of comrade Batov . Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, congratulations to your victory #21 . I had been again too slowly .... Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, who is the owner of Marshal Sudets' uniform + decorations ? I miss the Marshal-Star .... Great awards: - HSU, Hero YU + Mongolian Hero - Suvorov + Kutuzov 1cl - RB #5 + RB #4 - Partisan 1cl - OBE - etc., etc. ... Many thanks for that great picture . Best regards Christian

Dear Auke, congratulations to your victory . Difficult question . Well, I have to study Steigerwald's book about the Admirals of the Soviet Union .... Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, congratulations to your victory #20 . The person in question had been the father of Edzard Reuter, the famous Daimler-Benz CEO: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edzard_Reuter . The Reuter's are a highly interesting family . Best regards Christian

Auction in Vienna Gentlemen, the renowed Austrian ODM-dealer Hans Dieter Rauch http://www.hdrauch.com/auction/index.php? (I got from him my Glory-Trio, Kutuzov 2cl and all my YU-Orders ) makes at the 15th of june an auction in Vienna. Some nice YU-items and a YU-HSL with a starting price of EUR 3.000,- : http://www.hdrauch.com/auction/stamps/inde...a9c77d82fd4738a Best regards Christian

Dear Bob, many thanks for the information . I'll make a new thread about Hans-Dieter Rauch's auction in Vienna at the 15th of june. Best regards Christian

Congratulations Frank, yes it is comrade Zhdanov . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Zhdanov He had been Stalin's successor and favorite, but he didn't drank fine Georgian, French, Italian or Austrian wine, but some stuff with a higher percentage of alcohol - that killed him ... We can be happy about him, because he prevented, that the Soviet music took the "Schoenberg-Way" (like in the West) and that Soviet fine art stayed a "Fine Art" ("Socialist Realism" ) in the 20th century. Zhdanov also supported the great Jewish Communist Rudolf Slansky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Slansky in the CSSR, who had been executed after Zhdanov's death. It's your question now, Frank . Best regards Christian

Yes, that's her . Best regards Christian

New question #124 Gentlemen, here is my new question - it's an rather easy one, but also very tricky question . A question out of the Soviet world of art & culture ... Who am I ? I am citizen of the Soviet Union and one of the most prominent figures in the history of art in the 20th century, specially in the theoretic aspect of art. I rank among the most brilliant intellectuals and philosophers in the history of Russian culture. The French philosopher Roland Barthes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes described my theoretic concept and work as follows: "Wine is objectively good?[the artist] deals with the goodness of wine, not with the wine itself." Despite the fact, that I had nothing to do with military or Red Army, I got my merits in defending a well known town in the Soviet Union during the GPW. I also got some orders, medals & prizes. I died (rather!) young, due to a disease. Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, many thanks for your congratulations to my victory #23 . His decorations are very impressive and the photograph shows a bright & clever guy - despite the fact, that Serov is the "Katyn-Satan", he dosen't appear like THE "monster", as his long-time boss Beria always looked. Did he get the Moscow-Medal - I guess, yes ? Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, o.k., they took the case of GRU-Colonel Oleg Vladimirovič Pen'kovskij http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Wladimirowitsch_Penkowski , a friend of GRU-chief Serov, to kick him out. Pen'kovskij had been a spy for the NATO inside the GRU and delivered fruitful informations for the West during Berlin-crisis (1961) and Cuba-crisis (1962). He was shot after the trail 1963 in Moscow. Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, as I already mentioned: Zhukov & Serov got to powerful for the comrades in the Politburo, so they were send to the desert (Zhukov didn't loose rank & decorations!) . Serov never stood before court for Katyn, etc., etc. Officially: Serov should have stolen a lot of gold in Germany after the liberation ... Best regards Christian

Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov Dear Christophe, many thanks for the 2 hints . The comrade in question is former KGB- and GRU-chief Ivan Alesandrovich Serov (1905 - 1990) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Serov , he had been - beside Yuri Andropov - the mastermind on Soviet side in Budapest 1956, lost his position (GRU), his rank (Army General) and his decorations (6x Lenin, etc., etc.) and never got the medals back. His infamous act during the GPW - correct: BEFORE the GPW ! - had been the Katyn massacre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre , which had been his personal criminal act. Well, Serov had been fired for almlost the same reasons as Zhukov , despite the fact, that the army didn't really like him as the head of GRU. I couldn't find the complete list of his decorations, but I think, that he might have got - besides his 6 Lenins - one or two Suvorov 1cl, RB, RBL (?), RS and maybe a HSU or HSL + Medals: Moscow, Victory over Germany, etc. There is a Russian book about Serov and here a review in German language: http://www1.ku-eichstaett.de/ZIMOS/forum/docs/buch5.htm Best regards Christian

Dear Christophe, tricky question . I think, that he is not one of the Marshals / Admirals of the Fleet of the Soviet Union, because they kept all their awards, after being politically dropped. He should be a GPW-General/Admiral, who lost a battle in the war, but made a brilliant career in the Ministery of Defense, Navy or General Staff till 1955 - a time, where some of Stalin's Generals/Admirals lost their positions. There had been some cases in the Navy, I guess . Best regards Christian

Not at all, Filip , but I think, it is still neccessary to make some propaganda for YU-Awards - i.e. Soviet & Mongolian Awards are ranking in the interest still far above our YU-Awards. The larger the YU-collectors-community will be, the more informations we will get here in the GMIC-section. Well, YU-Awards are still a rather "white spot" on the map of phaleristics . Mongolian & Albanian Awards are much more researched, as Ed tells, as YU-Awards . Best regards Christian

Dear Sasa, many thanks for your information I might get the price down to a range of 1.100,- to 1.200,-, I think. But I have to check, how prominent the recipient is ... Best regards Christian

Dear "Usairforce", when the ring is part of the medal, that means, that he is not soldered on the medal, then I would say, your medal is a nice exampel of a late version . The medal is struck and not casted, the details are good and the expression on the faces of the sailor & naval infantry man are also perfect. Best regards Christian

Dear Bryan, "unissued" had been a joke from Christophe . Of course, that's a copy, as Christophe stated . Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, here is another photograph of Marshal Rola-Zymierski in Potsdam 1945: And 2 pictures of another - more famous - Polish Marshal: In full decoration: Best regards Christian

Gentlemen, I do not have scientific evidence, that the mint has scratched Brezhnev's Victory. He got the informations from the well known platforms in the internet . But the story sounds good, because the former Soviet government didn't need an Order of Victory in stock - for what ? Best regards Christian

s/n. & "Order of Victory": What the "Red Bible" says Gentlemen, the well known "Red Bible" of the two US-Special Forces / Secret Service officers tells, that the Victory had neither a s/n., nor a mint mark. But it is noted, that the s/n. of the Victory is written in the OK . As far, as I can assume, they just checked the OK of Eisenhower's Victory, where they found the correct s/n. in the middle of the pages. No "unissued" or "museum" Victories should exist - they are just "copies". Brezhnev's Victory had been scratched. All Victories to Soviet Marshals and Antonov + the one to the Polish Marshal are locked at a special institution in Moscow. The Victories of Eisenhower & Montgomery are the well known places, Tito's you can find here: http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=16820 and the one awarded to King Michael of Romania should be in Switzerland (where the former king lives) or should have been sold in the 1990s for about mere USD 300.000,- to a German collector. The former king stated in an interview, that he is still the owner of the Order of Victory, but who knows .... For me, it wouldn't seem unlikely, that the new Serbian Government might might sell Tito's high-end Soviet orders - Victory, Suvorov 1cl., Lenin & October Revolution + all the matching documents + photographs - to a collector from Russia or the USA, who is able to pay the right price for the items and replace Tito's orders in the museum with the usual copies. Well, that's just an "academic" issue, because no one here at GMIC (at least the active members ) has even the fraction of the budget for buying Tito's Order of Victory . Best regards Christian