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Commemorative badge of the Bulgarian partisan resistance during the Second World War, identified by the inscription “ЗА НАРОДНА СВОБОДА” (Za Narodna Svoboda, “For the Freedom of the People”). The badge commemorates the struggle of the anti-fascist resistance, particularly its communist elements, against the Bulgarian government allied with the Axis powers during the period 1941-1944, which ended with the coup d’état of 9 September 1944.
The badge features a military and propagandistic composition depicting two armed partisans, one carrying a drum-magazine submachine gun resembling the Soviet PPSh-41. The figures stand in front of a red-enamelled flag, accompanied by a sheaf of wheat, a characteristic element of socialist iconography symbolizing the peasantry and agricultural labour.
The lower section features a scroll bearing the Cyrillic inscription “ЗА НАРОДНА СВОБОДА” (“For the Freedom of the People”), together with the dates “1941-1944”, referring to the period of Bulgarian partisan resistance activity during the Second World War.
Badges of this type were intended to commemorate and recognize the participation of anti-fascist fighters and members of the partisan resistance in the struggle against the Bulgarian authorities of the period and the Axis forces.
The badge is of solid, single-piece construction in bronze and enamel. Its construction characteristics suggest a possible early post-war issue, dating to approximately 1945, although this attribution requires confirmation through examination of the reverse and manufacturing details.
Original Bulgarian commemorative badge of the partisan resistance, “For the Freedom of the People”, 1941-1944. Possible early post-war issue.
