Hungary KISZ Badges and Medal

[hunyadi]

I am starting this thread and will add to it when more information becomes available.

Ifj?s?g A Szocializmus?rt Mozgalom ?Youth Socialism Movement? Badges

To begin this thread we have for several years now seen these little pesky badges at the flea markets and dealers shops. They are very inexpensive. The large badge merked '5' is 35mm tall and 30mm wide; '4' is 22mm tall and 25mm wide; '3' (not shown here) and '2' are the same size as '4'; '1' is 20mm tall and 25mm wide.

Like with most things associated with the KISZ youth organization, very little documentation remains, and few really recall what the badges were for or how they got them it seems.

Edited December 10, 2007 by hunyadi

[hunyadi]

Well today a bit of the puzzle revealed itself. Ask and you shall recieve. Last week I was talking with a Budapest dealer about these and he recaled that the badges were given out according to the grade one recieved on a test about the KISZ organization. Well - he was partialy right, but he also managed to find me a document for one of these badges which sheds a whole bunch of light on the subject.

The document had pinned through the cover all four of the badges in the previous post, and from the looks of it probably other pinse were there at one time as well.

The document forlds out so what you see below is the cover and the back pages. 'Igazolas' means "certifies" that Kiss Sandor in the "Ifj?s?g A Szocializmus?rt" (youth for socialism movement) completed for the year of 1961 the 'Movement First Class' badge. Given December 26th, 1961.

You also see 'Sport' (one of four subjects in which the KISZ member had to participate in some manner) For this one Sandor participated in the August 1961 "MHS radio study group"

[hunyadi]

The other side of the card natrually revelas more. There is anohter fold which certifies that Sandor is #16 (possibly for the district) and that he is certified to have the first class of the badge. Next is 'Munka' (Work) here he was required to do 20 hours of 'voluntary socialist labor' for which he went a little overboard and completed 24. Then there is 'Tanulas' (learning) For which he studied at a techincal school for the year of 1961. Then 'Kultura' (culture, what else) for which Sandor went to the theatre and saw a film on bicycles, the Eifel tower and another one that I cant decipher.

To sum up the badges, it looks like certain requriements were required in the fields of work, learning, culture and sport for which each member had to provide evidence of making a 'movement' forward for socialism. For each additional time that the KISZ member completed the requirements they were probably awarded the next grade of the badge. Perhaps more was required each progressive time, but the document seems to be uniform, IE 'fill in the aproproate blanks for the proper badge', so its still uncertian at this time if it got progressivly more difficult.

In essence these badges ring similiarly to the skill badges from the Boy Scouts, but with a little more emphasis uppon furthering the socialism rather than tying knots or learning fishing. More to come...

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

Great find. Just what I have been looking for for the last year. I'll post pictures of the complete set, plus the larger one we talked about, tomorrow. For months, I had a small KISZ booklet sitting on the night table beside my bed while I waited to turn up the information that you just posted. Well, I guess I must have got neat clean and tidy recently and put the little booklet away somewhere "safe" because now I can not find it. If I remember correctly, it was call I PROBA and was possibly associated with this series of badges. I'll have to have a better look tomorrow and see if I can find this booklet.

Regards,

Gordon

Edited December 10, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

I have found the book I was looking for but unfortunately it is for the Young Pioneers and not KISZ. It is called "I. PR?BA" or 1st Test. KISZ is mentioned in the booklet a number of times and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there wasn't a very similar booklet for the small badges of your thread. I'll bring the booklet with me tomorrow to the Coin and Stamp Show and we can look at it together providing you will be ther.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Charles,

Here is a picture of all five badges plus one with the same wording on the banner but unnumbered. I do not know where this unnumbered badge fits within the scheme of things but it appears to be related to this series.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

WARNING-Collecting KISZ badges could go on for ever! Here is what I have picked up so far.

Regards,

Gordon

[Guest Rick Research]

Is there any way to tell how old these badges are, since they all have "1957" on them?

[Gordon Craig]

Rick,

Not that I am aware of. There is a dealer here in Budapest who was a member of KISZ and sometimes he has a good answer about a specific KISZ badge but not much lately. As time passes his memory of who wore what and when is fading. I have a number of KISZ badges for certain events that do have dates on them rather than just the founding date of 1957.

Regards,

Gordon

[Ulsterman]

wow-nice collection. i know the name Sandor Kiss....from where?

[Gordon Craig]

Ulsterman,

Kiss Sandor would be a common name here and I have seen it in/on unrelated documents before. If you are male in Hungary and your name isn't Sandor (Sanyi for short) then you are probably called Gabor.

Regards,

Gordon

[Guest Rick Research]

Arrived today: hard, heavy metal. Nice finish. The flags and star are a second piece on top of the large star. It's real enamel not paint-- does any of this suggest a time span on this one?

[Gordon Craig]

Rick,

Not that I am aware of. The paper for the award of this badge with the number one, that Charles posted, dates from 1961 so enamel badges were most likely in use at that time. The vast majority of KISZ badges that I have are enamel and not paint. Only two or three out of all of the ones on the picture of KISZ badges that I posted above are painted. I have never seen a badge in this series in a painted finish.

Regards,

Gordon