Orders, decorations, and medals of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were created during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and used throughout the existence of the

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

(called Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia until 1963). The first decorations were created by

AVNOJ The Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia,; ; commonly abbreviated as the AVNOJ, was a deliberative and legislative body that was established in Bihać, Yugoslavia, in November 1942. It was established by Josip Broz ...

on August 15, 1943 and included the

Order of the People's Hero The Order of the People's Hero or the Order of the National Hero ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Orden narodnog heroja, Oрден народног хероја; , ), was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav gallantry medal, the ...

Order of the People's Liberation The Order of People's Liberation or Order of National Liberation ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Orden narodnog oslobođenja, Орден народног ослобођења; ) was a decoration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the fifth-highest d ...

, Order of the Partisan Star, Order of the Brotherhood and Unity, Order for Bravery and Medal for Bravery. By 1960 the total number of decorations increased to 42 and consisted of 35 orders, 6 medals and 1 commemorative medal. The designers of the Yugoslav orders and medals were

Antun Augustinčić Antun Augustinčić (4 May 1900 – 10 May 1979) was a Croatian sculptor active in Yugoslavia and the United States. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršinić, he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 2 ...

and

Đorđe Andrejević Kun Đorđe Andrejević Kun (; 31 March 1904 – 17 January 1964) was a Serbs, Serbian and Yugoslavs, Yugoslav painter and graphic artist, a participant in the Spanish Civil War and the World War II in Yugoslavia, National Liberation War in Yugoslavia ...

. The Law on Decorations of 1945 introduced two new orders ( Order of Freedom,

Order of Merits for the People Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

) and one new medal (Medal for Merits for the People) and assigned the order of precedence of all orders and medals. The Law was amended in 1946, when the Commemorative medal of Partisans of 1941 was removed and no long considered a decoration. New decorations were introduced in 1947 (

Order of the Yugoslav Flag Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

), 1948 (

Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour ( / , , ) was the fourth highest state decoration awarded in Yugoslavia. 1951 (

Order of the War Banner The Order of the War Banner ( / , , ) was a military order of honor and the 7th highest state decoration of the both Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Serbia and Montenegro (also known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). It ...

, Order of the People's Army, Order of Military Merits, Medal for Military Merits, Medal for Military Virtues), 1954 (

Order of the Yugoslav Star The Order of the Yugoslav Star was the highest national order of merit awarded in Yugoslavia. 1955 (Medal for Merits), and 1960 ( Order of the Republic). In 1961, the Law was amended again, so that names of many lower class orders was changed, and the order of precedence was slightly changed. In 1973, new Law on Decorations was adopted. It kept all the previous decorations, but the order of precedence was abolished. Before 1955, no distinction was made between the civil and military decorations. The Law on Decorations of 1955 made this distinction for the first time and it was kept until the Law of 1973 when this distinction was abolished. Between 1955 and 1973, the orders of Freedom, People's Hero, War Banner, Partisan Star, People's Army, Military Merits, and Bravery, and the medals for Bravery, Military Merits and Military Virtues were considered military decorations, while all others were considered civil decorations. The original decorations are kept at the

World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...

. The Yugoslav government requested that the decorations be given the status of "official sign" as opposed to other countries and states where the status of official control and warranty is reserved only for the national seal. With the dissolution of Yugoslavia the decorations stopped being awarded but continue to be protected by Article 6 of the

Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on 20 March 1883, is one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property. The convention is s ...

. In 1998, the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

(also known as Serbia and Montenegro) adopted new Law on Decorations that kept most of the decorations of the Socialist Yugoslavia, with some additions.

Orders

Medals

Commemorative medal

Instituted on 14 September 1944 for award to those actively involved in partisan or political units between 1941 and the end of WW2. At first, the Commemorative medal of the partisans of 1941 was considered to be the lowest of rank among the orders, but later lost that status to be considered outside of the before mentioned group and listed below medals.

Other medals

File:YugoslaviaMedal-SpanischCivilWarVeterans_20Anniv.jpg, Medal of Yugoslav Fighters in the International Brigades in Spain, 1956. File:YugoslaviaMedal-SpanischCivilWarVeterans_1956.jpg, Medal of Yugoslav Fighters in the International Brigades in Spain, 1956.

References

External links