Orders, decorations, and medals of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were created during the Second World War and used throughout the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (called Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia until 1963). The first decorations were created by AVNOJ on August 15, 1943 and included the Order of the People's Hero, Order of the People's Liberation, 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 and Đorđe Andrejević Kun.
The Law on Decorations of 1945 introduced two new orders (Order of Freedom, Order of Merits for the People) 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.[1] New decorations were introduced in 1947 (Order of the Yugoslav Flag), 1948 (Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour), 1951 (Order of the War Banner, Order of the People's Army, Order of Military Merits, Medal for Military Merits, Medal for Military Virtues),[2] 1954 (Order of the Yugoslav Star), 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.[3]
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 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.
In 1998, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (also known as Serbia and Montenegro) adopted new Law on Decorations that kept most of the decorations of the Socialist Yugoslavia, with some additions.[4] [5]
| Order | Date of establishment | Rank overall(1945)[6] | Rank overall(1955)[7] | Rank overall(1960)[8] [9] | Rank overall(1961[10] [11]) | Number awarded(until the end of 1985)[12] | |||
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| 1. | Order of the Yugoslav Star | ||||||||
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| 2. | Order of Freedom | ||||||||
| 3. | Order of the People's Hero | ||||||||
| 4. | Order of the Hero of Socialist Labour | ||||||||
| 5. | Order of the People's Liberation | ||||||||
| 6. | Order of the War Banner | ||||||||
| 7. | Order of the Yugoslav Flag | ||||||||
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| 8. | Order of the Partisan Star | ||||||||
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| 9. | Order of the Republic | ||||||||
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| 10. | Order of Merits for the People | ||||||||
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| 11. | Order of Brotherhood and Unity | ||||||||
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| 12. | Order of the People's Army | ||||||||
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| 13. | Order of Labour | ||||||||
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| 14. | Order of Military Merits | ||||||||
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| 15. | Order of Bravery | ||||||||
| Rank | Medal | Date of establishment | Number awarded(until the end of 1985) | |
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| 1 | Medal for Bravery | |||
| 2 | Medal for Merits for the People | |||
| 3 | Medal of Labour | |||
| 4 | Medal for Military Merits | |||
| 5 | Medal for Military Virtues | |||
| 6 | Medal for Merits | |||
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.
| Medal | Date of establishment[13] | Number awarded | ||
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| "Death to fascism, freedom to the people" Medal | ||||
| "10 Years of Yugoslav Army" Medal | ||||
| "20 Years of Yugoslav People's Army" Medal | ||||
| "30 Years of Yugoslav People's Army" Medal | ||||
| "30 Years of Victory over Fascism" Medal | ||||
| "40 Years of Yugoslav People's Army" Medal | ||||
| "50 Years of Yugoslav People's Army" Medal | ||||
| Distinguished Marksman Medal | ||||
| Medal for the participants of President Tito's Visit to India and Burma of 1954–1955 | ||||
| Medals of the Association of Yugoslav Fighters in the International Brigades in Spain (two medals awarded together) |