Gold Badge "Champion Of The Sixth Five Year Plan".

[CtahhR]

Here is the Gold Badge "Champion Of The Sixth Five Year Plan". The sixth Bulgarian "plan" ran from 1971-1975 which makes this award rather easy to date. It was awarded by the Sofia area branch of the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union for merits in accomplishing the plan.

The reverse features a rather simplified version of the Sofia coat of arms.

[CtahhR]

Here is the matching document awarded to Georgi Petkov Mladenov of the "Freshness" Branch of the Dimitrov Communist Youth Union in Sofia.

Updated with the changing times and focus in Bulgaria this document does not contain a Dimitrov quotation but one of Zhivkov's.

[CtahhR]

Another one to Todor Slavov Sosfranov of the Ministry Of Construction And Construction Materials.

[medals73]

Are there silver, bronze, tin, or wood badges too? Your description of it as the "Gold Badge" suggests this.

Absent good (any) reference material on Bulgarian things, curiosity reigns.

And for what services was it awarded?

[CtahhR]

It is "Gold" as stated on the award document although they may all be gold to make everyone feel just that bit better about it.

"За постигнати високи успехи в социалистическото съревнование през годините на шестата петилетка се" - For high achievements in Socialist competition during the years of the Sixth Five-Year Plan.

As this was issued by all party organs of the Sofia region it will pretty much cover anyone and everyone in the Sofia region at very least for their efforts during the Bulgarian 6th Plan.

As "Gold Badge" is printed I think we can be pretty safe in presuming all of these were gold. Usually when there was an option there was a blank to fill in as can be seen in other threads around here.

[medals73]

Thanks for this (and others). It is always good to see such items and their documents, but without knowing for what they were awarded it is no more than eye-candy (nice eye-candy for sure). And for the majority who don't have these obscure languages, some commentary is always appreciated.

[CtahhR]

It may have been just the same for the people originally awarded these "back then". There's a ceremony at the plant or at a meeting and everyone has these little bits handed out as "par for the course" only to find out just why they were awarded them by reading the small print.

I've come across many of these Bulgarian award booklets recently which are continuing to shed light on the subject. The process has only just begun in comparison to the distance yet to travel.

I enjoy the fact that these more "localised" or "specialised" Badges usually either have an explanation on the reverse or in a matching booklet, something Medals and Orders rarely do.

I would have also expected that these kinds of Badges with matching documents from the Soviet Union or SSRs to be popular and discussed frequently with the unavailability of less revealing higher end awards but it looks like someone is missing a trick.

Plenty more Bulgarian items to come in the future and nearly all of them rarer than a real Partisan Medal!

[medals73]

Thanks. Absent archives, we have to squeeze the few things that come into our hards pretty hard to extract any serious historical/phaleristic understanding of what is going on. And it requires a sample size that most of us don't/will never have. Keep on keepin' on. :thumbsup