Awards from the dark times in Hungary

[eindecker2]

Just a brief history behind the man who made the medals possible...

When the Red Army liberated Hungary from the Germans in 1945, Rajkosi returned and became general secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. In elections held in November, 1945, the Hungarian Communist Party won only 20 per cent of the votes. However, the communist filled all the important posts with Rajkosi becoming the most important political figure in Hungary.
The Hungarian Communist Party became the largest single party in the elections in 1947 and served in the coalition People's Independence Front government. With Rajkosi as prime minister, the communists gradually gained control of the government and when Laszlo Rajik, the foreign secretary, criticized attempts by Stalin to impose Stalinist policies on Hungary he was arrested, tried for treason and executed.
Rakosi now attempted to impose authoritarian rule. An estimated 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 were imprisoned. These policies were opposed by some members of the Hungarian Communist Party and around 200,000 were expelled by Rakosi from the organization.
Rakosi had difficulty managing the economy and the people of Hungary saw living standards fall. His government became increasingly unpopular and when Stalin died in 1953 Rakosi was replaced as prime minister by Imrey Nagy. However, he retained his position as general secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party and over the next three years the two men became involved in a bitter struggle for power.
He was removed from office in 1956 and in 1962 was expelled from the Hungarian Communist Party. Matyas Rajkosi died in 1971.

Here is a recent aquisition from this time period of terror... a Workers Merit Medal cased with the award document from 1955.

This is one of 20,652 awarded

First the case

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and the award document - from the impression that its left in the inner lid its been in there for some time.

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and the award itself - very fine detail and gold plated parts

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More Rakosi to follow -

[paddywhack]

thats a realy nice medal!!!!

[eindecker2]

Here is one of the most darkest medals of the Rakosi period. This was the medal given to loyal Hungarian communists who fought against the revolutionaries, mostly the AVH (Hungarian KGB) and parts of the police force and the party members loyal to Rakosi - for their service they were given this medal and thier children were given the right to go to any university of their choice wether or not thier school record waranted such action. The box is unique as it bears no symbol ony the embossed rectangle no other box containes this detail.

This is one of an estimated 20,000 awards

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and the medal itself

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an up-close shot - little damage to the enamel but otherwise mint.

[Valter Gorenc]

I have this "dark" medal and the dealer told me it was for suppression uprising in 1956, but he wasn't completely sure. Thanks for the info! Maybe you know how many of these were awarded and what they are worth now? And also, please, can you write the official title of this award (in english and hungarian) for my collection catalogue?

Thanks in advance, Valter

Here is one of the most darkest medals of the Rakosi period. This was the medal given to loyal Hungarian communists who fought against the revolutionaries, mostly the AVH (Hungarian KGB) and parts of the police force and the party members loyal to Rakosi - for their service they were given this medal and thier children were given the right to go to any university of their choice wether or not thier school record waranted such action. The box is unique as it bears no symbol ony the embossed rectangle no other box containes this detail.

[eindecker2]

Hello Vater -
The bottom reads 'Workers, Pesants, Return of Power (takeover, resumtion of power...) 1957' Unfortunatly I dont have the new Hungarian Awards book which lists the 'official' name of this medal. Probably its the something like the "People's Resumtion of Power" Medal. After Christmas when I get the new book I can tell you more. I have no idea how many were awarded but I would guess that nearly half a million were made, probably half of that were awarded. You had to be a 'good' Communist to get one. On a rarity scale of 1-5 (1 being the rarest) I would rate this a 3.
As for value - well two years ago I bought one with the box for $5- As the prices of 3rd Reich era axis and allied items go up many collectors this year are shifting interests. My dealer friend who had a mint example of this for $15- forgot to hold it for me and sold it out from under me after I had explained for him to hold it till this week. I got ripped off on this one for $23- from another dealer. The flea markest are the maddest selling the medal alone for $25 and with the case for $35!
Of course on some web sites you will find more common 10,15,25 year service awards for the price of the medal alone! (a service award still goes for about $5 today)
Hope this helps

[eindecker2]

Here is another one - 'Star of Workers Merit' - to my knowledge its the 5th highest award for workers. The award survived after the 1956 revolution but as you can see the shield has the crossed hammer and wheat sheath in the center - not the hungarian colors. What makes Rakosi era awards more rare is the fact that after 1956 when the national symbol was changed to a more 'Hungarian' style (i.e. the replacement of the senter symbol to the Hungarian colors) Recipients fo the old style were given the offer of exchanging the old awards for the new ones. Old ones were eitehr destroyed or had the symbols changed and then recirculated. Thses Rakosi items are getting harder and harder to find.

This is one of 7092 awarded

[eindecker2]

here is what I mean by the change in the symbols - above the Rakoshi era Workers Star and below a post 56' Military Merit.

[New World]

Nice medals!

Hungarian medals must be quite rare, you don't see them for sale that often.

William

[Valter Gorenc]

Thank you, much appreciated! I bought mine (mint cased example, but without ribbon bar) for about 8 $ 2-3 years ago. Generally I don't collect hungarian awards, but a dealer offered me this one and I was impressed with nice quality and design. I see hungarian awards are genarally of very high quality, yet for reasonable prices.

Greetings,. Valter

Hello Vater -
The bottom reads 'Workers, Pesants, Return of Power (takeover, resumtion of power...) 1957' Unfortunatly I dont have the new Hungarian Awards book which lists the 'official' name of this medal. Probably its the something like the "People's Resumtion of Power" Medal. After Christmas when I get the new book I can tell you more. I have no idea how many were awarded but I would guess that nearly half a million were made, probably half of that were awarded. You had to be a 'good' Communist to get one. On a rarity scale of 1-5 (1 being the rarest) I would rate this a 3.
As for value - well two years ago I bought one with the box for $5- As the prices of 3rd Reich era axis and allied items go up many collectors this year are shifting interests. My dealer friend who had a mint example of this for $15- forgot to hold it for me and sold it out from under me after I had explained for him to hold it till this week. I got ripped off on this one for $23- from another dealer. The flea markest are the maddest selling the medal alone for $25 and with the case for $35!
Of course on some web sites you will find more common 10,15,25 year service awards for the price of the medal alone! (a service award still goes for about $5 today)
Hope this helps

[eindecker2]

William -
The reason you dont see much of these is that there are not that many Hungarian communist award collectors outside the country. If you want to start a collection I have two cased Service to the Fatherland in bronze and gold on the international table of the estand .