Hero of the Soviet Union

Origins

On 14 April 1934 the Soviet leadership (Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov, Kuibyshev and Zhdanov) published an open telegram to the seven polar pilots who had rescued the passengers and crew of the steamship Cheliuskin, which sank in Arctic ice on 13 February 1934; the telegram petitioned the Central Executive Committee to establish the new distinction. The title Hero of the Soviet Union was instituted by decree of the Central Executive Committee on 16 April 1934, and on 20 April the seven rescue pilots became its first recipients. The earliest Heroes received only a certificate from the CEC, with no order or badge; from the statute of 29 July 1936 the Order of Lenin became obligatory in addition to the certificate.

Gold Star and repeat awards

Because the Order of Lenin could also be awarded for deeds that did not qualify for the heroic title, a separate badge was needed to distinguish Heroes, and the Gold Star medal was introduced by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 1 August 1939. It applied retroactively to earlier Heroes. The same decree permitted repeated awards: a two-time Hero received a bronze bust in their home town, and the bust of a three-time Hero was to be erected by the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow, but the palace was never completed and the busts of the three-time Heroes were placed in the Kremlin. The medal's design was drawn by the architect Miron Merzhanov, and its appearance was confirmed by decree on 16 October 1939. A new statute of the title was approved by decree of the Presidium on 14 May 1973; repeat awards were abolished by a decision of the Presidium on 22 August 1988.

Recipients

During the existence of the USSR the title went to 12,777 people: 154 twice (including nine posthumously), three three times (Pokryshkin, Kozhedub and Budyonny) and two four times (Zhukov and Brezhnev). The first two-time Heroes were Gritsevets and Kravchenko, decorated on 22 February and 29 August 1939; Savitskaya was the only woman twice awarded. The great majority, 11,635, received the title during the Second World War, 3,051 of them posthumously. Ninety-five women and 44 foreign citizens were awarded. Eighty-five recipients (28 posthumously) were decorated for the Soviet-Afghan War.

Revocation and rehabilitation

Only the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet could revoke the title. Seventy-two people were stripped of it, mostly for crimes, and 13 awards were annulled as unwarranted; 61 were later restored, and two more were reinstated after their awards had been annulled. Sixteen Heroes who lost the title were subsequently shot, and 12 of them were later rehabilitated and restored.

Privileges

The decree of 6 September 1967 granted Heroes a series of state privileges: pensions, priority housing with a 50 per cent rent reduction, additional living space, a free annual round trip, free city transport, a free annual sanatorium stay, and medical and cultural benefits. The same decree exempted them from property, land and agricultural taxes, and from 1 May 1985 from all taxes. Part of the honour was expressed in monuments: the title brought bronze busts and, in some cases, memorials.

Decline and dissolution

By the 1970s the award had been somewhat devalued: important political and military figures received it on their birthdays rather than for any immediate heroic act, and Brezhnev's four awards were all birthday gifts. The original statute did not provide for a fourth award and allowed a maximum of three, so the four-time awards went beyond its provisions. After the collapse of the USSR the title was abolished, and on 20 March 1992 Hero of the Russian Federation took its place.

Final award

The last award was made on 24 December 1991 to Captain of the 3rd rank Leonid Solodkov, for his part in a diving experiment simulating prolonged work at a depth of 500 metres. The medal was presented on 16 January 1992, after the USSR had ceased to exist. Under the still-unamended service regulations the recipient was to reply "I serve the Soviet Union!", but Solodkov did not, offering thanks instead.

Abroad and collectives

Following the Soviet example, most Soviet-bloc countries instituted their own "Hero" titles, and the name survives today in states such as Cuba and in Russia and several other post-Soviet countries. The title was not awarded only to individuals: for collective heroism in the Great Patriotic War it was conferred on twelve cities as Hero Cities and on the Brest Fortress as a Hero Fortress.