Tradition to mint government awards inthe honor of glorious victories is not new. From the eighteenth century, Russian soldiers were honored with medals “composed” by the emperor Peter the Great personally and dedicated to victories won in the Swedish war, and then other battles, sea and land. Sometimes the heroic actions of the gallant regiments were marked with prize insignia even when the battle was lost.
The tradition was continued during the GreatWorld War II, as well as after its completion, because the Second World War did not end in May 1945. The defeat of imperial Japan, in which the Soviet Army took an active part, was defeated, defeating the Kwantung grouping and reaching Korea and China.
Already in the fall of 1944 the doom became apparent.Nazi Germany. Supreme Commander I.V. Stalin supported the proposal of the head of the rear service, General of the Army Khrulev, to develop a sketch of a new medal, the most massive, which should have been awarded to all who contributed to the coming victorious end of the war. The sketch of artists Andrianov I.K. was recognized as the best. and Romanova E.M. The medal "For the Victory over Germany" began to be minted at the Mint in June 1945, and at the same time it began rewarding representatives of the high command, marshals Tolbukhin, Rokossovsky, generals Berzarin, Purkaev, Antonov, Zakharov and others.
The main element of the design of the governmentThe award became the image of the supreme commander. The medal "For the Victory over Germany" fully corresponded to the spirit of the era. Its front side shows the profile of I.V. Stalin in his marshal's jacket, framed in a slightly modified quotation from his speech of July 3, 1941. In the original radio address were the words: "We must win!". After four years of bloody suffering, it was possible to speak of defeating the enemy as a fait accompli: "We won!". On the reverse side, the text “For Victory over Germany” is minted along the edge and “In the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945” in the center.
The colors of the award pads matched the heroic Russian symbolism. Orange and black stripes were the same as on the St. George ribbon.
The medal "For the victory over Germany" was trulyfolk. In total, it was awarded about fifteen million people. Among them are both direct participants in the hostilities, and those who fought on the territory occupied by the enemy as part of partisan detachments and who worked selflessly in the rear.
В течение первых пяти с половиной лет медаль «За victory over Germany ”was supposed to be handed over to the state after the death of the person awarded, only in 1951 she was allowed to leave in the family with a certificate so that future generations could remember the heroic past.
После распада СССР в некоторых странах - бывших Soviet republics - this award was called one of the symbols of the totalitarian era, and even banned its wearing. However, such an attitude towards people who defeated fascism, who became the personification of absolute evil in the twentieth century, did not add to the popularity of politicians of European orientation. You can issue a petty law, but it is very difficult to ensure its implementation by those who shed blood on the long journey to Berlin. And it's not about the profile on the front side of the award. It is enough just to remember what the medal was given for. The victory over Germany forever remained in people's memory, whether someone likes it or not ...
