Who in the USSR was awarded the ‘Mother-Heroine’ title?

Mother-Heroine, reproduction of painting by P. Yelichegirov

‘Mother-Heroine’ was regarded as the highest title awarded to mothers in the USSR. The honorary award was conferred on women who gave birth to and brought up 10 or more children. It was awarded upon the first birthday of the last child, provided that the nine other children were still alive. However, children who perished or were declared missing while defending the Motherland or performing their military or civic duty were still counted.

The Panovich family take a walk in Orenburg Region

The ‘Order of Mother Heroine’ was a convex five-pointed gold star superimposed on radiating silver rays. It was suspended from a bar in red enamel bearing the words: “Mother Heroine”.

The award was conferred for the first time on 14 women on October 27, 1944. Mother Heroine No. 1 was Anna Aleksakhina from a village in Moscow Region. She had two daughters and 10 sons, four of whom never came back from the fronts of World War II.

Mikhail Kalinin presenting the award to Tatyana Bubnova, one of the first 14 Mother Heroines of the USSR

Mikhail Kalinin and the first Soviet Mother-Heroines (Anna Aleksakhina standing third from left)

It was no accident that the award was instituted during World War II. The Mother-Heroine title was conceived as a measure to support mothers who had lost their children in the war, as well as serving as an incentive for the younger generation to have as many children as possible to fill the huge demographic hole the war had caused.

Mother-Heroine Yepistiniya Stepanova lost all of her 10 sons in the war

Legally adopted children were also taken into account. The adoption of children whose parents had died during the war was particularly encouraged.

Mother-Heroine Aleksandra Derevskaya and her husband Yemelyan fostered and raised 48 children during the war

In Tashkent, for instance, a monument was erected to commemorate the Uzbek mother Bakhri Akramova, who, during World War II, adopted 15 orphaned children evacuated to Soviet Uzbekistan from different USSR republics. And hers was far from the only such case.

Mother-Heroine Bakhri Akramova (fourth from right) and her blacksmith husband Shaakhmed Shamakhmudov (right)

Bakhri Akramova (seated) with her children at the opening of the monument in her honor in Tashkent

Women from Soviet republics, where families traditionally had more children, often became Mother-Heroines (it has to be said that, in Russian villages, women also had many children, but there was also a high infant mortality rate).

Mother-Heroine Yazgul Yagmurova with her family. Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic

Mother-Heroine Dzhakhon Irgasheva with her family. Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

Mother-Heroine Bavakan Akopyan (2nd row, center) and her large family. Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Altay village residents Georgy and Mariya Lebedev with their 12 children and grandchildren

The order and title were conferred right up to the break-up of the USSR in 1991. It was given to more than 430,000 women during the time of its existence. Mother-Heroines also received various benefits from the state - small monthly payments for each child, an upgraded pension, free travel on public transport and discounted rates for public utilities. Additionally, they were frequently first in line for free housing.

Soviet poster 'Glory to the Mother-Heroine', 1944

Mothers with multiple children could also receive awards other than Mother-Heroine. For having five or six children, women were given the ‘Maternity’ Medal - bronze or silver, respectively.

The ‘Order of Maternal Glory’ in different classes was handed out for seven, eight or nine children.

The image of the mother with a large family was romanticized in many Soviet movies. For instance, ‘Once Upon a Time Twenty Years Later’ (1980) shows a meeting of former classmates at which the protagonist can’t answer the question: “What was the most important thing in your life?” It subsequently transpires that she has 10 children and all her classmates go into raptures and admit that children and bringing up children is the most important thing in her life. What is more, she has a happy marriage and is still feminine.

A still from ‘Once Upon a Time Twenty Years Later’ (1980)

The award stopped being given out following the collapse of the USSR. Modern-day Russia has the ‘Order of Parental Glory’. From 2008, it was given to parents or a single parent for bringing up more than four children and, since 2010, to parents with more than seven children (in both cases, their own or adopted). A lump-sum cash benefit is also paid alongside the award, which, since 2022, amounts to 200,000 rubles (approx. $3,360). Around 500 families have received the award in all.

At Vladimir Putin’s initiative, the Soviet-era ‘Mother-Heroine’ award was revived on August 15, 2022. The high honor will be conferred on mothers (with Russian citizenship) who give birth to and bring up 10 or more children (who are also citizens of Russia).

Recipients of the ‘Order of Parental Glory’ Larisa and Arkhip Gorokhov with their children

The qualifying rules are similar to the Soviet ones. All the children must be living, although an exception is made for children who die or are declared missing in the course of performing their military, work-related or civic duty, as well as in consequence of terrorist acts or emergencies. The mothers are given the title and the medal and also a financial reward of one million rubles (approx. $16,800).

Below is what the new order will look like. Inscribed prominently around a gold medallion set inside a five-pointed star are the words: “Mother Heroine”, while a two-headed eagle - the coat of arms of Russia - is emblazoned on a red enamel background in the center. The order is surmounted by the Russian flag - a white, blue and red tricolor framed with gold and set with a diamond.