Komsomol Membership Badge.

[ade stevenson]

Hi Guys, this one has just arrived and I am very pleased with it. Issued to a cadet of tank- technical school in Leningrad.

More scans to come once my brand new scanner decides to play...

Cheers, Ade.

[ade stevenson]

Scanner is now playing again. Here are two more scans showing his membership contributions for 1939 and 1940. There were no more after this date.

The book came to me from the USA. It got there after being found thrown out as "junk" in Germany. An American soldier who was based in Germany rescued it together with the WW2 German items in the group. I am told there was also a pair of tank collar dogs with them. If the seller can find them, I will get them too. I suspect the book was initially liberated by a German soldier on the Eastern Front and the tank collar dogs might have come from the same soldier?

Final one as a close up on his ID photo.

Cheers, Ade.

[EricFG]

Three nice VLKSM badges and a wonderful "Hero of the VLKSM" medal ;) that I just got.
Thanks Paul!!! :thumbsup

[deValcourt]

Man, they put those little "pins" on everything. i even have a "Druzhinnik" or volunteer police "helper" (or snitch) with the Komsomol as the founding member. Come to think of it, I should post my collection of the volunteer police badges I have from various places and times.

Phillip

[Lapa]

Three nice VLKSM badges and a wonderful "Hero of the VLKSM" medal ;) that I just got.
Thanks Paul!!! :thumbsup

Eric,

That is 2 pioneer and 1 VLKSM badges, and the "hero" is a fairly typical dembel item.

Marc

[EricFG]

Thanks Marc, What's the difference between Young Pioneers and VLKSM? Were the YPs a pre-VLKSM group? (Like Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts?)

[Lapa]

They were two distinct organizations.

Marc

[EricFG]

I found this out from Wikipedia:
"Its main grouping of members until 1942 was the "Young Pioneer detachment," which then typically consisted of children belonging to the same secondary school. From 1942 to October 1990 (when the organization was broken up) the "detachment" was made up of children belonging to the same class within a school, while a school was referred to as a "Young Pioneer group."

There was also an age-scale structure: children of 10–11 years were called Young Pioneers of the first stage; 11–12 years were Young Pioneers of the second stage; 13–15 years were Young Pioneers of the third stage. Young Pioneers of 15 years could join Komsomol, with a recommendation from their Young Pioneer group.

The main governing body was the Central Soviet of the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union, which worked under leadership of the main governing body of Komsomol. Its official newspaper was Pionerskaya Pravda.

[deValcourt]

This is the VLKSM "For Active Work in Protecting the Public Order" badge I mentioned above. The VLKSM emblem pin is part of the whole badge and not a second piece (all aluminum). I can't imagine what the "youngsters" would do to earn this compared to the older "Druzhinniks," but here's the badge nonetheless.

Phillip

[Mukerjee]

Regarding Komsomol pins and other Soviet pins, how were they manufactured? They all seem of ultra-light aluminum and usually have a red, semi-transparent enamel, like around the Lenin VLKSM. There must have been many Soviet facilities to produce these pins to feed an apparent pin craze in the USSR. Most Soviet pins also have a safety pin type clasp and are not stickpins like the rest of Europe. Any expert thoughts appreciated.