General questions/ comments on Polish awards

[Esteban_cool]

Is there any polish equivalent (or at least any award to compare) of the Soviet RB?

[Al-muell]

I must say I was quite scarred when I accesed the link and saw a communique that the link is no longer valid.
First of all: Taz, thank You for researching the additional info.
Second: Sorry for lack of the new fotos, I shall have a few next week and I will try to have some at the end of the month (There is a bazaar at the end of each month, so I'll try to take a few shots.
About the military variations - I have heard that from a friend who's thye rank of starszy porucznik (senior lt.) in modern polish army, and he says he knows a retired colonel who has a special variant of gold cross of valour for army, but he was unable to describe the medal, so maybe it's some sort of mistake.
The fake problems: The awards that are reproduced are mostly pre-WW2 awards. Only the highest awards and those given during or shjortly after the war from the communist period are faked - others can be bought for reasonable prices, so there is no nead to fake them. I don't know how it is with e.g. those honorary title badges - I have ever seen one for sale so maybe they are rare (except maybe for "pioneer of labour" that are very common and cheap - so cheap that I got one as a bonus to a helmet that costed me ~3euro....).

[Taz]

Al,
I'm extremly sorry, I had a bit of an accident early this morning. The reason your pics are missing is my fault. :( It has nothing to do with the restructuring of the Soviet-Bloc section.
Please, please if it's not too much bother could you post them again?
Especially your beautiful teachers Title, but of course the others as well if it's not too much to ask.
Now the Soviet-Bloc has been sub-divided you can devote a seperate thread for your pics.
Thanks for the info on the fake situation, that is more or less what I have been hearing here in Germany.

TIA Eddie.

[charlet]

Originally Posted by Esteban_cool

Is there any polish equivalent (or at least any award to compare) of the Soviet RB?

I'd tell it is the cross of valour, which is pretty rare (following attribution statistics)

[Taz]

Originally Posted by Esteban_cool

Is there any polish equivalent (or at least any award to compare) of the Soviet RB?

Hi Esteban,

I think your question is somwhat similar to Tals question in the previous Polish award section so I will try to answer them both at once if I may.
Tal asked if I remember correctly what would be the Soviet equivilant of a Knight (member) regarding the classes of the Order of Polonia Restituta,Virtuti Militari etc.

The awarding structure of Polish awards, unlike other Soviet Bloc Countries has similarities with the award structure of GB or France for example and cannot be directly compared with Soviet awards for the higher class orders.
There is no HSU or HSL and there is in relation a great deal of Crosses and fewer Medals.
Honoury Titles however remained a prize award and were much treasured to the recipiant and had a high prestige.
Throughout 45 years of communist rule, Poland established only three other/new orders that didn't exist before, the Order of Builders of People's Poland, Order of the Banner of Labour (both 1949), Order of Merit (1974), and a variety of state, commemorative, ministry and organizational decorations. It should be noted, however, that even during the communist era Polish decorations retained a lot from the pre-war system. The motive of hammer and sickle or a five pointed red star, dominant in other Soviet dominated countries were practically not encountered among Polish symbols.
So as you can see there would be no one award that is a direct equivilant of a Soviet Red Banner but rather one of a selection depending on the action. Two examples would be the Merit Cross or maybe the Cross of Valour.

I hope this answers your question in part.

Eddie.

[Taz]

Originally Posted by charlet

I'd tell it is the cross of valour, which is pretty rare (following attribution statistics)

Hi Sebastian,

you jumped me on that one, you can tip a lot faster maybe :)
Does Als post answer in part your question about fake Polish awards?

Eddie.

[Al-muell]

Originally Posted by Taz

Al,
I'm extremly sorry, I had a bit of an accident early this morning. The reason your pics are missing is my fault. :( It has nothing to do with the restructuring of the Soviet-Bloc section.
Please, please if it's not too much bother could you post them again?
Especially your beautiful teachers Title, but of course the others as well if it's not too much to ask.
Now the Soviet-Bloc has been sub-divided you can devote a seperate thread for your pics.
Thanks for the info on the fake situation, that is more or less what I have been hearing here in Germany.

TIA Eddie.

It doesn't really matter. I have the pics on a CD and I'll re-post them (and maybe some more) on monday.

[Taz]

Thanks Al ;)

Sorry once again for the trouble.

Eddie.

[charlet]

Originally Posted by Taz

Hi Sebastian,

you jumped me on that one, you can tip a lot faster maybe :)
Does Als post answer in part your question about fake Polish awards?

Eddie.

I have forgotten a very prstigious award, for military valour: the Virtuti Militari of course...extremly rare, following Pr. Wiesolovski works it has been extremly few given during communist times.

[Taz]

Originally Posted by charlet

I have forgotten a very prstigious award, for military valour: the Virtuti Militari of course...extremly rare, following Pr. Wiesolovski works it has been extremly few given during communist times.

Sebastian,

The Virtuti Militari for military valour is indeed rare. It is often refered to as the Polish Victoria Cross, a little too prestigious to compare with a Red banner in my opinion.

Eddie.