Hero of the Soviet Union | |
---|---|
Type | Highest degree of distinction |
Awarded for | Heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society |
Presented by | Soviet Union |
Eligibility | Soviet and foreign citizens |
Status | No longer awarded |
Established | 16 April 1934 |
First awarded | 20 April 1934 |
Last awarded | 24 December 1991 |
Total | 12,777 |
Precedence | |
Next (lower) | Hero of Socialist Labour |
Related | Hero of the Russian Federation |
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (Russian : Герой Советского Союза, romanized: Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. [1] The title was awarded both to civilian and military persons.
The award was established on 16 April 1934, by the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union. [2] The first recipients of the title originally received only the Order of Lenin, the highest Soviet award, along with a certificate (грамота, gramota) describing the heroic deed from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Because the Order of Lenin could be awarded for deeds not qualifying for the title of hero, and to distinguish heroes from other Order of Lenin holders, the Gold Star medal was introduced on 1 August 1939. [3] Earlier heroes were retroactively eligible for these items.[ citation needed ]
A hero could be awarded the title again for a subsequent heroic feat with an additional Gold Star medal and certificate. [4] The practice of awarding additional Orders of Lenin when the title was awarded multiple times was abolished by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1988 during perestroika. [4]
Forty-four foreign citizens were awarded the title. [5]
The title was also awarded posthumously, [6] though often without the actual Gold Star medal presented.[ citation needed ]
The title could be revoked only by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. [7]
Most Soviet-bloc countries followed the Soviet example and instituted their own "Hero" awards. The Soviet-style "Hero" title is still used both in surviving current Communist states such as Cuba and in some non-Communist post-Soviet countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and others.
Individuals who received the award were entitled to special privileges, including:
In total, during the existence of the USSR, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to 12,777 people (excluding 72 stripped of the title for defamatory acts and 13 awards annulled as unwarranted), including 154 people who received the award twice (nine posthumously), three who received it three times, and two who received it four times. Ninety-five women were awarded the title. Among the Heroes of the Soviet Union, 44 people are citizens of foreign states. The great majority of them received it during World War II (11,635 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 101 twice Heroes, three thrice Heroes, and two four-time Heroes). Eighty-five people (28 posthumously) were awarded the title for actions related to the Soviet-Afghan War, which lasted from 1979 until 1989. [9]
The first recipients of the award were the pilots Anatoly Liapidevsky (certificate number one), Sigizmund Levanevsky, Vasily Molokov, Mavriky Slepnyov, Nikolai Kamanin, Ivan Doronin, and Mikhail Vodopianov, who participated in the successful aerial search and rescue of the crew of the steamship Cheliuskin , which sank in Arctic waters, crushed by ice fields, on 13 February 1934. Valery Chkalov, who made the first-ever Trans-polar flight, was awarded the title on 24 July 1936. Valentina Grizodubova, a female pilot, was the first woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union (2 November 1938) [10] for her international women's record for a straight-line distance flight. Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, a Soviet partisan, was the first woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II (February 16, 1942), posthumously.[ citation needed ]
According to Soviet war interpreter Elena Rzhevskaya, reports of several dead Hitler lookalikes in the days following his death stemmed from Colonel General Nikolai Berzarin's pledge to nominate the discoverer of Hitler's corpse for the award. [11]
In addition, over 100 people received the award twice. A second Hero title, either Hero of the Soviet Union or Hero of Socialist Labour entitled the recipient to have a bronze bust of his or her likeness with a commemorative inscription erected in his or her hometown. [12]
Fighter pilots Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub were three times Heroes of the Soviet Union. [13] A third award entitled the recipient to have their bronze bust erected on a columnar pedestal in Moscow, near the Palace of the Soviets, but the palace was never built.[ citation needed ]
After his release from serving a 20-year sentence in a Mexican prison for the assassination of Leon Trotsky, Ramón Mercader moved to the Soviet Union in 1961 and as Ramon Lopez [14] was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Hero of the Soviet Union medal "for the special deed" by KGB head Alexander Shelepin.[ citation needed ]
The only individuals to receive the title four times were Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Leonid Brezhnev. The original statute of the Hero of the Soviet Union, however, did not provide for a fourth title; its provisions allowed for a maximum of three awards regardless of later deeds. Both Zhukov and Brezhnev received their fourth titles under controversial circumstances. Namely, Zhukov was awarded a fourth title in direct violation of the statute. [4] He was awarded the fourth time "for his large accomplishments" on the occasion of his 60th birthday on December 1, 1956. There is some speculation that Zhukov's fourth Hero medal was for his participation in the arrest of Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, but this was not entered in the records. Brezhnev's four awards further eroded the prestige of the award because they were all birthday gifts, on the occasions of his 60th, 70th, 72nd and 75th birthdays. Such practices halted in 1988 due to a decision of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which formally ended it.[ citation needed ] By the 1970s, the award had been somewhat devalued. Important political and military persons had been awarded it on the occasions of their birthdays rather than for any immediate heroic activity.[ citation needed ] All Soviet cosmonauts, starting from Yuri Gagarin, as well as foreign citizens from non-capitalist countries who participated in the Soviet space program as cosmonauts, received a Hero award for each flight, but no more than twice.[ citation needed ]
Apart from individuals, the title was also awarded to twelve cities (Hero City) as well as the fortress of Brest (Hero-Fortress) for collective heroism during the War. [15]
The last recipient of the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" was a Soviet diver, Captain of the 3rd rank Leonid Mikhailovich Solodkov on 24 December 1991 for his leadership and participation in a series of unprecedented extreme depth diving experiments. [16] Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, this title was succeeded in Russia by the title "Hero of the Russian Federation", in Ukraine by "Hero of Ukraine" and in Belarus by "Hero of Belarus". [6] Azerbaijan's successor order is that of National Hero of Azerbaijan and Armenia's own hero medal is that of National Hero of Armenia, both modeled on the Soviet one.[ citation needed ]
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4 (1969), Soyuz 8 (1969), and Soyuz 10 (1971). From 1987 to 1991, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Lieutenant General, Soviet Air Force (1975).
Hero of the Russian Federation, also unofficially called Hero of Russia, is the highest honorary title of the Russian Federation. The title has a Gold Star medal, an insignia of honour that identifies recipients.
The Order of Victory was the highest military decoration awarded for World War II service in the Soviet Union, and one of the rarest orders in the world. The order was awarded only to Generals and Marshals for successfully conducting combat operations involving one or more army groups and resulting in a "successful operation within the framework of one or several fronts resulting in a radical change of the situation in favor of the Red Army." The Order of Victory is a standalone decoration awarded specially for service in World War II; unlike other awards such as the Hero of the Soviet Union, it does not belong to any order of ranking. In the history of the Soviet Union, the award had been awarded twenty times to twelve Soviet leaders and five foreign leaders, with one revocation. The last living recipient was King Michael I of Romania, who died on 5 December 2017.
Mark Ivanovich Shevelev was a Soviet pilot during World War II and one of founders of Soviet polar aviation. He was a head of aviation department Aviaarktika of the Chief Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, a Hero of the Soviet Union, and later reached the rank lieutenant-general.
The Russian census identified that there were more than 5,864,000 Ukrainians living in Russia in 2015, representing over 4.01% of the total population of the Russian Federation and comprising the eighth-largest ethnic group. On 2022 February there were roughly 2.8 million Ukrainians who fled to Russia.
Gagarin Air Force Academy is a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino, Moscow Oblast.
Alexander Ignatyevich Molodchy was a Ukrainian Soviet long-range bomber pilot who flew over 300 missions on the B-25, Il-4, and Yer-2 during World War II, placing him among the top bomber pilots of the Soviet Union by number of sorties. He was the first person twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union during the war while alive.
The Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" was a state military commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established on January 28, 1988 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to denote the seventieth anniversary of the creation of the Soviet Armed Forces.
The Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" was a state commemorative medal of the Soviet Union established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on November 5, 1969 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin. Its statute was amended on July 18, 1980, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. It was awarded to eminent members of Soviet society, the military leadership and foreign members of the international communist and labour movements.
The Medal "For the Defence of Stalingrad" was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union.
The Medal "For the Defence of Moscow" was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union awarded to military and civilians who had participated in the Battle of Moscow.
The Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus" was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union.
The Medal "For the Capture of Berlin" was a World War II campaign medal of the Soviet Union established on June 9, 1945 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to satisfy the petition of the People's Commissariat for Defense of the Soviet Union. The medal's statute was amended on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Yefimov was a senior military officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force from 1984 to 1990. Earlier in his life, he had been an Il-2 pilot for which he was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
The Order of Lenin was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union. The order was awarded to:
Konstantin Kokkinaki was a Soviet fighter and test pilot. He shot a total of 14 enemy aircraft in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. Following the end of the latter he tested dozens of new aircraft and set a new world flight airspeed record, for which he received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. His older brother Vladimir Kokkinaki followed a similar career path, also achieving the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Aleksey Konstantinovich Ryazanov was a Soviet flying ace during world War II. With over 30 solo shootdowns of enemy aircraft, he remained in the military after the war and became a General-Major.
Ivan Yefimovich Zhukov was an officer of the Soviet Air Force. Over his time in service, he reached the rank of polkovnik, the Soviet equivalent to colonel. In 1982 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Ivanovich Bobrov was a Soviet fighter pilot and a flying ace in both Spanish Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. By the most reliable estimates, his tally stands between 19 solo and five shared to 23 solo and eleven shared shootdowns during World War II. He was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Soviet Union in 1991.