Hero City
영웅도시
Hero City was a state honor awarded to Soviet cities whose residents and defenders had displayed mass heroism and courage during the Second World War. The designation entered official use in the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s order of 1 May 1945 and was institutionalized, with a formal statute, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 8 May 1965.
In depth
The phrase first appeared in wartime newspaper writing in 1942; the 1945 order made it an official designation for Leningrad, Stalingrad, Sevastopol, and Odessa. Kyiv was added in 1961, while in 1965 Leningrad and Kyiv received the Gold Star medal, Stalingrad, Sevastopol, and Odessa received the Order of Lenin and Gold Star, and Moscow and Brest Fortress received the titles for the first time. A Hero City received the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star medal, and a certificate from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and an obelisk was to be established in the city. The category thus organized wartime defense memory through a system of state awards and urban memorials.