Researching Heroes of the Soviet Union.

[CZ]

Just right now there is a fantastic exihibition in the "Jewish Museum Vienna" http://www.jmw.at/en/ about the 150 Jewish recipients of the Gold Star. The published also a good booklet with all the biographies and photographs (about USD 10,-). Here an introduction by the museum:

"12 March, 2002 - 16 June, 2002

TOWARDS THE LIGHT OF DAWN
Heroes of the Soviet Union
In the Second World War, 1.5 million Jews fought with the Soviet Union and the Allies on the Russian Front, in Europe and Africa, in Near and Far East, at sea and in the air. There were 500,000 Jews in the Red Army alone, of whom 200,000 died in battle.

Thousands of Russian soldiers of Jewish origin showed their courage in the struggle against the German army, and around 160,000 of them received medals and awards for bravery. More than 150 of them received the highest decorations - the Golden Star and the honorary title "Hero of the Soviet Union". Three of them - D. A. Dragunski, M. J. Katukov and J. W. Smuskevich - were given the award twice.

During and after the war, anti-Semites in the Soviet Union would assert that Jews had not fought at the Front but had stayed in the background awaiting its outcome. They even had a name for it: the "Tashkent Front". The 150 or so biographies selected for this exhibition tell a different story.

The artist and curator Oz Almog uses the scant material at his disposal to create a bizarre installation full of pathos, underscored by dramatic lighting and floral decorations typically seen on war memorials. The result is a visual and acoustic panorama that captures the spirit of the time, a "hall of fame", so to speak, of Jewish heroes.

Curator: Oz Almog
Architecture: Alexander Kubik
Design: Brigitte Appl"

I have read somewhere, that there have been only 2 cavaliers of the "Order of Glory" of Jewish origin - is this true?

Regards from Vienna

[Art]

Excellent job Christian..I'm not sure about the Cavlier holder, but one of the personal favorites in my collection is an Order of the symbol of Honor screwback, issued to a Jewish Female party member. Take a look at it in the Orders forum..

[mcwirsk]

Dear Christian

Great article, this is my first post so I hope I get it right. There is a great book detailing all the Jewish HSU. I have the group (minus Hero stars) to Col Gen DA Dragunsky in my collection. I have all his medals/decorationsand lots of documents etc including one of the small hero booklets. I thought there were 144 Jewish HSU.
As regards the Cavaliers of Glory, I took the book on the Cavaliers and tried to count all those that had listed their religion as Jewish and counted about 15. Sorry to boast but I have one complete Cavaliers group in my collection. I think there are many more who never showed their regilion as Jewish. I specialise in groups to Jews and have a few that only show their religion as Jewish on a few documents and then as Russian or Ukranian on others. This makes it difficult to identify them other than by Jewish names.

Anyone out there with Jewish stuff please let me know.

Regards from South Africa

Munroe

[CZ]

Dear Munroe,

Congratulation to your great collection.

I think 144 is right. At the catalogue the quote 146, but they also list 2 world famous HSLs: Michail Josefowitsch Gurewitsch, the MiG-genius, and the father of the Soviet atomicbomb, Juli Borisowitsch Chariton. But I think they got HSLs and not HSUs.

The number 2 of Jewish recipients of a "Glory Trio", I found at a dealer's website, but I can't remember which. Something about 20 to 30 - or even more - should be the real number, I think. My "Glory Trio" you can see as my atavar - Ukrainian hero.

I have a "Friendship among Nations", No. 7.529, 10.3.1981, with booklet and the name "Josif Gladskij" - might this be a Jewish recipient?

Regards from Vienna

[Doug]

I also have a couple of groups and individual pieces to Jewish recipients. I'm currently researching the life of General - Lieutenant Anatoly Iosifovich Andreev. During the GPW, he was the commander of the 43rd Rifle Corps. He joined the Red Army in 1918, participated in the civil war where he was wounded twice, and of course, served in the Great Patriotic War. He received three Red Banners, an Order of Lenin, a Kutuzov 2nd Class, and two Suvorov 2nd Classes. Unfortunately, I only have the Kutuzov 2nd Class and one of the Suvorov 2nd Classes. I'm told the other Suvorov is floating around somewhere here in the US. IF ANYONE KNOWS WHERE SUVOROV 2ND CLASS #2484 IS, LET ME KNOW!!!

He was awarded the Kutuzov 2nd class for the Oranienbaum operation and the Suvorov 2nd I have for capturing the islands in Vyborg bay during the last days of the war with Finland.

When I get a little time, I'll post the citations because they are pretty interesting. I also just found a copy of the History of the Leningrad Military District. He is mentioned and photographed in it. When I get these parts translated, I'll post this too. Given my poor translation skills, this will be awhile.

If anyone has info on Gen Andreev or the 43rd Rifle Corps, I'd sure like to speak with you.

All the best,

Doug

[mcwirsk]

Dear Christian

Thanks for the kind words. From looking at your and others posts my collections is very modest.

As regards the HSU numbers, Yes I think you are correct. I also have a HSL plus its lenin to a Jewish guy. I think there are a lot more HSL than HSU's. Does anybody know how many HSL's awarded to Jews?

As regards the cavaliers of glory, I would agree that its about 20-30.....sounds right. Anybody got any of these groups out there???

What about cavaliers of labour???

As regards the Friendship among nations, whats is the persons fathers name. This may help becuase Josif can be both Jewish and Russian.

Does anybody know of any other Soviet collectors in South Africa, I think I am the only one and its quite lonely done here.

Kind regards from Sunny Africa

Munroe

[CZ]

Dear Munroe,

the exact name of the recipient of the friendship-order is:

Anatolij Josifowitsch GLADSKIJ

What do you think?

Regards from Vienna

[mcwirsk]

Dear Christian

I don't think he is Jewish. I will check with my Russian side of the family to confirm the last name.

From sunny SA

Munroe

[Frieza]

I was wondering, does anyone have any pictures of the two, three, and four time Hero of the Soviet Union gold stars?

[Art]

Frieza,

The 2nd award of a Gold Star is rare, only 141 were twice-decorated. Only 5 people received higher than the 2nd award (pictured below). McDaniel says that the 3 and 4 award is very rare, and has neve been observed. He speculates it would appear similar to the below, with a different roman numeral of course to indicate 3 or 4.