Order "People's Hero".

[Mark]

I was offered this medal once, and I showed it to a few of my collector friends, and the problem is that people are unaware of these hero fakes, and they all told me it looks ok, but when I showed them the pics of the original hero, they saw the big difference in details on the partisan's face, flag, boots... and changed opinion.

[DutchBoy]

Mark,

I think you're right. If you've actually seen them, then that's pretty good evidence that they are fake.

[Mark]

I already asked the other collectors here before if they could post their Heros, so we could all learn how looks the gold hero and hollow type hero and off course the fake hero. But unfortenately no response. It would be good to learn at least how the most important partisan award looks...

Anyway, tomorow I'm going to buy myself the third type of the order If I'll see that it's original and if it'll be ok I'll post some pics here.

[Lapa]

Guys,

I was browsing through Sasha's brand new thread in which he posted (incorrectly, I agree) some really nice pictures of 2 of these orders when it simply disappeared.

Rather than erasing an interesting thread, could our beloved moderators simply remove the offending threads and explain (once more...) to the culprit that he did a big boo-boo.

Anyway, here are those rare orders.
First Monetniy Dvor-made, in gold, weight 42-43g.

Marc

[Lapa]

And the IKOM-made one, in gold, 38g.

Marc

[UQWozza]

From: Wapedia - Wiki: Order of the People's Hero

The Order of the People's Hero (Serbo-Croatian: Orden narodnog heroja, Cyrillic script: Oрден народног хероја; Slovene: Red narodnega heroja, Macedonian: Oрден на народен херој) was a Yugoslav gallantry medal, the second highest military award in the SFR Yugoslavia, It was awarded to individuals, military units, political and other organisations who distinguished themselves by extraordinary heroic deeds during war and in peacetime. The recipients were thereafter known as People's Heroes of Yugoslavia. The vast majority was awarded to partisans for actions during the Second World War. A total of 1322 awards were awarded in Yugoslavia, and 22 were awarded to the foreigners [1] .

The bulletin of the Supreme commaned of the People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia no. 12-13 (December 1941 and January 1942) announced the establishment of the title of "People's Hero" for heroic and self-sacrifing participants of the People's Liberation Struggle. The first person to be awarded the title was Petar Leković. On 15 August 1943, the title was formalized as an order together with Order of the People's Liberation, Order of Bravery, Order of the Partisan Star, Order of Brotherhood and Unity and the Medal for Bravery.

The Order consists of an oval gold badge showing a soldier with rifle and banner superimposed upon a rayed star surrounded by a wreath of laurel. The badge is suspended from a red ribbon, with a narrow white stripe towards each edge. The design for this and the other Orders were undertaken by the painter Đorđe Andrejević Kun and the sculptor Antun Augustinčić. From its inception until around 1993, the Order had been awarded nearly 1,400 times. Marshal Josip Broz Tito was awarded the Order three times: in 1944, 1972 and 1977.

The holders of the order were entitled to certain benefits, like free fares on public transport, and pensions for the surviving family members of deceased people's heroes. Although the benefits have since been downscaled, post-Yugoslav countries still provide certain benefits to people's heroes. Many schools and streets in post-war Yugoslavia were named after people's heroes, and many of the names remain, to varying degrees in different successor countries.

Several cities in Yugoslavia were awarded the order, and proclaimed Hero Cities: Beograd, Cetinje, Drvar, Ljubljana, Novi Sad, Prilep, Pristina and Zagreb.

Awarded for | Distinguishing oneself by extraordinary heroic deeds
First awarded | 1942
Last awarded | 1993

Petar Leković became the first People's Hero in February 1942.
Marija Bursać became the first woman Hero at 15 October 1943.
Josip Broz Tito was awarded the order three times.

By 1957 1,220 awards to males and 87 to females, and 17 to foreigners including Rodion Malinovsky and Fyodor Tolbukhin.

The deaths section on page 5 is interesting - includes 3 buried alive, 3 strangled, 1 impaled and 1 burned on a skewer (stake?).

Simon

[Lapa]

Originally Posted by UQWozza

...The deaths section on page 5 is interesting - includes 3 buried alive, 3 strangled, 1 impaled and 1 burned on a skewer (stake?)...

Simon,

Care to elaborate on that? :D

Marc

[UQWozza]

Wish I could but that was all the article said. There has to be some interesting stories behind those figures! I will try and do some more digging.

Simon

[deValcourt]

Simon, Marc, et. al.,

Doesn't anyone find the number of these awards (according to Wikipedia - which I still have yet to trust as a valid source ;)) rather odd? If of the 1322 awarded in Yugoslavia, 22 were to foreigners, that leaves a very round 1300 awarded to citizens. It just strikes me as unusual that precisely 1300 - not 1301, etc. - were awarded. It makes me question the criteria.

Then again, if impalement or being buried alive is part of that criteria, then I'll go with the "People's Coward" variation, thank you very much.:D

At the same time, it is a very interesting Order from a region with a very interesting history. So Simon, please do share anything you might dig up.:thumbsup

Phillip

[aironmeiden]

Originally Posted by deValcourt

Simon, Marc, et. al.,

Doesn't anyone find the number of these awards (according to Wikipedia - which I still have yet to trust as a valid source ;)) rather odd? If of the 1322 awarded in Yugoslavia, 22 were to foreigners, that leaves a very round 1300 awarded to citizens. It just strikes me as unusual that precisely 1300 - not 1301, etc. - were awarded. It makes me question the criteria.

Then again, if impalement or being buried alive is part of that criteria, then I'll go with the "People's Coward" variation, thank you very much.:D

At the same time, it is a very interesting Order from a region with a very interesting history. So Simon, please do share anything you might dig up.:thumbsup

Phillip

I find this topic very interesting.
i see there are a lot of suicides... was the suicide posthumous of ordination or was suicide considered under certain cirustances as an heroic act?