| 65th | Top prizes, medals, and awards%E2%80%8E |
| Hero of the Soviet Union | |
|---|---|
 Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union |
|
Awarded by the  Soviet Union |
|
| Type | Honourary Title |
| Eligibility | Soviet and Foreign Citizens |
| Awarded for | heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society |
| Status | No longer awarded |
| Statistics | |
| Established | April 16, 1934 |
| First awarded | April 20, 1934 |
| Last awarded | December 24, 1991 |
| Total awarded | 12,745
|
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | none |
| Next (lower) | Order of Lenin |
| Related | Hero of the Russian
Federation Hero of Ukraine Hero of Belarus |
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (Russian: Герой Советского Союза, Geroy Sovyetskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.
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The award was established on April 16, 1934. The first recipients of the title originally received only the Order of Lenin, the highest Soviet award, along with 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 August 1, 1939. Earlier heroes were retroactively eligible for these items.
A hero could be awarded the title again for a subsequent heroic feat with an additional Gold Star medal and certificate. An additional Order of Lenin was not given until 1973. The practice of awarding the title multiple times was abolished by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1988 during perestroika.
Many foreign citizens were awarded the title.
The title was also given posthumously, though often without the actual Gold Star medal given.
The title could be revoked only by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.[1]
The total number of persons who were awarded this title is 12,745 (twenty people have been stripped of this title due to various circumstances). The great majority of them received it during World War II (11,635 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 101 twice Heroes, 3 thrice Heroes, and 2 four-time Heroes). Sixty-five people were awarded the title for actions related to the Soviet-Afghan War, which lasted from 1979 until 1989. [1]
The first recipients of the award were the pilots Anatoly Liapidevsky (certificate number one), Sigizmund Levanevsky, Vasili Molokov, Mavrikiy Slepnev, 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 February 13, 1934. Valentina Grizodubova, a female pilot, was the first woman to become a Hero of the Soviet Union (November 2, 1938)[2] 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).
101 people were to receive the award twice. A second award entitled the recipient to have a bronze bust of his/her likeness with a commemorative inscription erected in his home town.
Two famous Soviet fighter pilots, Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub were thrice Heroes of the Soviet Union. A third award entitled the recipient to have his/her bronze bust erected on a columnar pedestal in Moscow, near the Palace of Soviets, but the Palace was never built.
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 contrary to the statute, which remained largely unchanged until the award was abolished in 1991. Zhukov was awarded a 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 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 birthday gifts, on the occasions of his 60th, 70th, 72nd and 75th birthdays.
By the 1970s, the award had been somewhat devalued. Important political and military persons had been awarded on the occasions of their anniversaries rather than for any immediate heroic activity.
All Soviet cosmonauts, starting from Yuri Gagarin, as well as foreign citizens who participated in Soviet cosmic program as cosmonauts, received Hero award for each flight (but no more than twice).
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.
The last recipient of the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" was a Soviet diver, Captain of the 3rd rank Leonid Mikhailovich Solodkov on December 24, 1991 for fulfillment of a special diving task. 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".
The medal appears as a charge in the arms of The Hero City of Sevastopol (pictured on the left).
Abdel Hakim
Amer - Egyptian military officer and political leader Gamal Abdel
Nasser – president of Egypt
(1954-1970)
Abdul Ahad
Mohmand – the first Afghan cosmonaut
Ahmed Ben Bella
– the first president of Algeria
Georgi Ivanov – the
first Bulgarian cosmonaut Todor Zhivkov –
communist president of Bulgaria
Fidel Castro – leader
of the Cuban communist government Arnaldo Tamayo – the first Hispanic and
Cuban cosmonaut
Josef
Buršík – for heroism during the liberation of Kiev, awarded in December 21, 1943, after the occupation of
Czechoslovakia he gave the award back Otakar Jaroš –
for heroism in the Third Battle of Kharkov,
awarded in memoriam in April 17, 1943 as the first foreign
soldier Ján
Nálepka (Slovak) – awarded
in memoriam on May 2, 1945 Vladimír
Remek – the first Czech in space and the first cosmonaut who
wasn't a citizen of USSR or USA Antonín
Sochor – for heroism during the liberation of Kyev, awarded in December 21,
1943 Ludvík
Svoboda – communist president of Czechoslovakia and army
general, commander of the 1st Czechoslovak Army
Corps Gustáv
Husák – communist president of Czechoslovakia Stěpan
Vajda (Rusyn) – for heroism
during the liberation of Poland, awarded in memoriam on August 10,
1945 Richard
Tesařík – for heroism during the liberation of Kyev, awarded on December 21,
1943
Jean-Loup Chrétien the first French
astronaut Marcel Albert –
decorated WWII fighter pilot (Normandie-Niemen) Jacques
André – decorated WWII fighter pilot (Normandie-Niemen) Roland de
La Poype – decorated WWII fighter pilot (Normandie-Niemen) Marcel
Lefèvre – decorated WWII fighter pilot (Normandie-Niemen)
Sigmund Jähn –
the first German cosmonaut Walter Ulbricht
– East German leader Erich Honecker –
East German leader Erich Mielke – East
German head of the Stasi
Bertalan Farkas
– the first Hungarian cosmonaut János
Kádár – Hungarian politician
Rakesh Sharma – the
first Indian cosmonaut
Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa –
the first Mongolian cosmonaut
Jakub
Gakar Hyten - Early proponent of Soviet ideas in Finland
Władysław
Wysocki - Polish officer from the battle of Lenino Juliusz
Hibner - Polish communist and officer from the battle of
Lenino Aniela
Krzywoń - Polish soldier Mirosław Hermaszewski – the first
citizen of Poland to travel
into space
Ramón
Mercader – assassinated Leon Trotsky in 1940 Rubén
Ibárruri – son of the Spanish communist leader Dolores Ibárruri
Gómez, killed in the Battle of Stalingrad while
fighting for the Red
Army
Muhammed Faris –
the first Syrian cosmonaut
Phạm Tuân –
the first Vietnamese cosmonaut
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