Hungary Hungarian People's Republic Awards

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

Looking at these photos again, th e militia guys seem to be wearing dark hats to match the colour of their shirts. True? I have one of the common light grey ones but have never seen a dark gray, or are they black hats?

Dan,

Post war rank charts for the militia guys would really be appreciated.

Cheers,

Gordon

[hunyadi]

I would say that there is some varaitions in the hats. If you see the early armbands depict simply 'MUNKASOR' in stencled letters. Later there are photos with armbands that have the munkasor coat of arms. The gal in uniform seems to be wearing a light colored cap and the 'grandpa' also seem to be wearing the light colored cap. As the photos range from the years 1957-1967 I think the latter part of the 1960's saw a switch to the lighter color caps. Now - to find a early and late Munkasor uniform....ugh - will it ever end...

[Gordon Craig]

So that those of you who may not be familiar with the hats Charles and I were refering to, here are some photos of the light grey hat worn by the militia during the final communist years in Hungary.

Edited November 28, 2006 by Gordon Craig

[Ulsterman]

very cool stuff-

gentleman:

What is the status of the Hungarian military archives? open or closed? Also, what about Communist era Party records?

I understand they are thinking of knocking down the old party building.

[hunyadi]

From what I understand the WW1 and WW2 archives are open to the public - only members of the government can get into the archives of the communist era. Sort of like needing to contact your congresman to get into the Library of Congress. Being furneerrs, I doubt that I woud get much results. Do you have a specific person you would like to research Jeff? PM me and I can see what I can do.

[Gordon Craig]

Jeff,

There is a section of the Military Museum that is open a couple of times a week for research. I haven't been yet but it is probably time to go and see what is available.

Regards,

Gordon

[Ulsterman]

Well, I figured the Communists (who are still in power there right?) wouldn't release their docs too quickly.

No-the reason I ask is I recently acquired (via a trade) a hungarian Military Gazette from 1943 that lists promotions, medals etc.. If the complete run of the Gazette is available, it would be possible to count exactly how many Horthy era awards were given out-and maybe even most arrow Cross awards too (up until the battle in the city).

By the way, for records see here:

http://www.mhbk.com/

By the way, welcome to the forum Lt. Czink!

Lads-

You have GOT to see the Vancouver Hungarian vet's newletter on-line. There is more military historical information there than almost anywhere else. The article on the Military merit medal article is a treasure.

Edited November 29, 2006 by Ulsterman

[Gordon Craig]

Ulsterman,

The MHKB site is inded a treasure. I've visited it often and downloaded an amazing amount of useful information from it.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Ulsterman]

Another unwritten about/unresearched medal- a volunteer (reserve) firemans' award from 1974-bronze class, 30 years service. Follows the pattern of the state issued medals for full time firemen with the same reverse, so I assume it is official or quasi official issue.

Edited November 30, 2006 by Ulsterman

[hunyadi]

Founded in February 4th, 1958 by the Council of Ministers to recognize the good work of voluntary firemen for long service. Two classes were created. 5,10,15,20,30,40, & 50 years. (these are a different form known as the Onkentens Tuzolto Szolgalati Erem) Then (this one above) came in three classes depending on the "merit" of service, but only for 30, 40 & 50 years of serivce. Three classes were formed bronze (as above) silver and gold.

So in other words you could get a 30 year in gold for being a very heroic volunteer fireman or a bronze for average service in a town that never had a fire.

[Ulsterman]

Founded in February 4th, 1958 by the Council of Ministers to recognize the good work of voluntary firemen for long service. Two classes were created. 5,10,15,20,30,40, & 50 years. (these are a different form known as the Onkentens Tuzolto Szolgalati Erem) Then (this one above) came in three classes depending on the "merit" of service, but only for 30, 40 & 50 years of serivce. Three classes were formed bronze (as above) silver and gold.

So in other words you could get a 30 year in gold for being a very heroic volunteer fireman or a bronze for average service in a town that never had a fire.

Not even a small fire?

So I need about 16 medals in all?

Plus documents?

Are they common to find at all?

Edited November 30, 2006 by Ulsterman

[hunyadi]

Not even a small fire?

So I need about 16 medals in all?

Plus documents?

Are they common to find at all?

Yep - 16 in total and that is not counting the "Excelent Fireman Medal" or the "Excelent Fire Work Medal". These are difficult to find as not many people / dealers seem to collect them or deal in them. This one is the first one of this grade (30 year bronze) that I have seen. I normaly run across the 5,10,15,&20 year medals, but then I have never seen a document for one of these either. They are not as 'sexy' as the military / political medals so they dont come to market very often it seems.

[Hauptmann]

Hi all,

I hope Charles does not mind but I wanted to post my newest additions which he was kind enough to send along as an early Christmas present!

Now do we have the greatest members or what? Thank you my friend, from the bottom of my heart. You've also got some goodies coming before too much longer. Will let you know when they're on their way.

Also Charles, I'd promised to send scans of the award book so you could translate but right now my laptop is on the fritz and being worked on. Hoping it will be back to normal in the next couple of days. But for now my mail is locked up on that except for what I can access online. So figured this would be the quickest/easiest way to get these to you.

Here goes. First off the award booklet for my Labor Order from post #21:

[attachmentid=63183]

[attachmentid=63184]

Edited December 2, 2006 by Hauptman

[Hauptmann]

Here's a bigger scan of each page:

[attachmentid=63185]

[attachmentid=63186]

[Hauptmann]

Now a Distinguished Service Order which is cased but I couldn't put that in the scanner and as I believe this is the same one from Charles post #45-47 that I'd just go ahead and show the Order itself:

[attachmentid=63187]

[attachmentid=63188]

And one of my favorite parts of all complete Hungarian awards... the ribbon bar with the miniature device. Very well made and just beautiful in my opinion:

[attachmentid=63189]

Edited December 2, 2006 by Hauptman

[Hauptmann]

A badge to commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the End of WWII:

[attachmentid=63190]

[attachmentid=63191]

[Hauptmann]

And a Proficiency Badge that I'm assuming is a 2nd class:

[attachmentid=63192]

[attachmentid=63193]

As with all Hungarian awards I just love the color combinations and overall design. Beautiful pieces that really catch the eye... even for the low level awards.

Charles... again my most humble and profound thanks to you my friend. These have definitely made an outstanding addition to my small but ever growing Hungarian collection. Can't wait till you're back in the states so we can visit and share our collections in person. I'm sure we'll both have added quite a bit to them by then, God willing.

Dan

[Ulsterman]

beautiful pieces!

[Hauptmann]

beautiful pieces!

Many thanks! Was overjoyed when I received the package and saw all this great stuff. Three cheers (and perhaps a ten gun salute) to Charles! Just a terrific gift and I'm most grateful.

Dan

[hunyadi]

Hey Dan - glad you liked them and glad they are a great addition to your collection - as for the transaltion of the document -

(Left side)

Hungarian People's Republic Secretary Council of Ministers

Certificate

005/35/ 2899

1953 (year) Serial Number

(right side)

This certifies that,

Graizer Sandor

the Workers Medal is awarded

this award can be revoked at any time

Budapest 1953, Novemebr 5th

the Hungarian People's Republic Secratray Council of Ministers autorization:

(signature)

[hunyadi]

Gotta bring this back up to the top - out shopping today for the family and found this along the way....

About 1947 or so, the Magyar Partizan Bajtarsi Szovetseg (MPBSZ) Hungarian Partisan Comrade Association was formed. Members were given a badge as seen below - unofficial of course.

Unfortunatly this rare badge is in bad shape. Uppon the star would normaly have been a parachute with crossed PPSH's. But that has long since fallen off.

[hunyadi]

glitch....

Edited December 11, 2006 by hunyadi

[hunyadi]

And the even better part - it came with a sister.

Edited December 11, 2006 by hunyadi

[hunyadi]

perhaps they were to the same person, but that is lost to time and history - but plausable as the low number suggests very early membership

[Ulsterman]

Fantastic!

Any chance the Partisan assn. records are still around? Or that the Assn. stille xists?