site.bta75 Years since Institution of Communist Bulgaria's Highest State Honour: Order of Georgi Dimitrov

The Order of Georgi Dimitrov - the highest State honour of Communist Bulgaria - was instituted by a decree of the National Assembly Presidium 75 years ago, on June 15, 1950.

The first recipient of the order, on June 17, 1950, was Prime Minister Valko Chervenkov.

The single-class order was awarded to Bulgarian and foreign nationals "for outstanding services to defending the independence and freedom of the Fatherland". 

The person after whom the award was named, Georgi Dimitrov, was Bulgaria's top communist leader until his death in 1949. 

The insignia of the order consisted of a large badge and a miniature badge. The large badge closely follows the design of the highest Soviet Order of Lenin - it was in fact the most faithful imitation compared to the highest honours of all other Eastern Bloc countries. The insignia were initially designed by sculptor Kiril Lazarov and was partially modified by engraver Onik Odanashian. A round medallion at the centre of the large badge featured a gold high-relief bust of Georgi Dimitrov in left profile against a red-enamel background, edged in white. A band of red enamel below was inscribed GEORGI DIMITROV. The medallion was flanked by wheat ears and had a red-enamel five-pointed star above and a hammer and sickle below. The badge measured 45 by 42 mm. It was suspended from a pentagonal metal bar covered with dark red fabric. It was worn on the left-hand side of the chest.

The gilt miniature badge, for everyday use, replicated the large one on a smaller scale, measuring 22 mm.

At first the insignia were crafted in a private artist's studio, and after 1952 the process was transferred to the Bulgarian Mint.

Until 1971 the honour was conferred by the Presidium or the National Assembly (which acted as a collective head of State), and then by its successor body, the State Council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. All first-time holders of the honorary titles of Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and Hero of Socialist Labour automatically received an Order of Georgi Dimitrov.

Its 4,000-4,500 holders include Bulgarian Communist Party leader, prime minister and later head of State Todor Zhivkov (four times), president Petar Mladenov, prime ministers Kimon Georgiev, Anton Yugov, Stanko Todorov, Georgi Atanasov and Grisha Filipov, Bulgarian Agrarian National Union leaders Georgi Traikov and Petar Tanchev, Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev (thrice), Konstantin Chernenko and Yuri Andropov, Soviet prime ministers Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolay Tikhonov, Soviet marshals Fyodor Tolbukhin, Sergei Biryuzov, Dmitry Ustinov, Aleksandr Koldunov, Viktor Kulikov and Sergei Akhromeyev, Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin, Valentina Tereshkova, Gherman Titov, Pavel Belyaev, Georgy Beregovoy, Valery Bykovsky, Alexei Leonov and Nikolay Rukavishnikov, KGB Deputy Chair Ivan Savchenko, Bulgarian generals Vladimir Stoychev, Georgi Damyanov, Shteryu Atanasov, Dobri Dzhurov, Ivan Mihaylov, Ivan Vinarov, Petar Iliev, Petar Panchevski, Mircho Spasov, Grigor Shopov, Panayot Karakachanov, Slavcho Transki, Atanas Semerdzhiev, Velko Palin, Polina Nedyalkova, Vasil Terziev, Zahari Zahariev and Georgi Ivanov, Indonesian President Sukarno, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski, Czechoslovak leaders Alexander Dubcek and Gustav Husak, East German Prime Minister Willi Stoph, East Germany's State Security Minister Erich Mielke, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito, North Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Hung, Mongolian leader Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung (twice).

Sava Ganovski, who headed the Press Directorate (which incorporated BTA at that time) from the Communist takeover on September 9, 1944 until August 1945, was awarded seven Orders of Georgi Dimitrov: in 1957, 1959, 1963, 1967, 1972, 1977, and 1987. BTA chief directors Elena Gavrilova (in office 1955-1962) and Lozan Strelkov (in office 1962-1981) are also on the honorees' list.

The award was conferred, among others, on composers Lyubomir Pipkov, Marin Goleminov, Pantho Wladigueroff, Petko Stainov, Philip Koutev, Asen Karastoyanov, Parashkev Hadzhiev, Alexander Raychev and Georgi Dimitrov, poetesses Elisaveta Bagryana and Dora Gabe, writers Pavel Vezhinov, Stoyan Daskalov, Nikolay Haitov, Emilian Stanev and Kamen Kalchev, poets Georgi Dzhagarov and Radoi Ralin, opera singers Nicolai Ghiaurov, Petar Raychev and Mimi Balkanska, artists Nenko Balkanski, Stoyan Venev, Tsanko Lavrenov, Svetlin Roussev and Vera Nedkova, actors Vladimir Trandafilov, Georgi Kaloyanchev and Ivan Popov, and mountaineers Hristo Prodanov (posthumously) and Lyudmil Yankov.

After the democratic changes in 1989, the Order of Georgi Dimitrov was discontinued on April 5, 1991. It was superseded as the top distinction by the Order of the Balkan Range, which until then had been reserved for foreign dignitaries.