Please help me keep my relative's medals in the family, and not in the flea market!

**PapaStalin1943** · 03-10-2019, 02:29 AM

Hi everyone, so I have 5 relatives who have served during WWII, and there is only 1 relative left alive, who is currently 93 years old. His name is Nikolay Alekseevich Ignatiev (you can read about him here: https://pamyat-naroda.ru/heroes/podv...eka1376266410/) and his medals will be passed down to me once he passes, but we do not know how we will get them out of Russia to the US, since if you are caught taking any Soviet orders or medals out of Russia, it is a crime and you can face jail time. The problem here is that Nikolay has dementia, so he does not even remember having the medals, so he cannot sign them off to us, therefore it is very tricky to get them out. If we are not able to keep the medals in the family, then the government may take them, or they may end up in a flea market. So, I am asking if anybody knows a legal way to get these medals out of Russia before it is too late? (I am definitely NOT in a rush to get these medals, as I hope for my great uncle to live a very long life- I just hope that it does not seem like I am in a hurry to get these medals, as I just want to make sure that they don't end up in the wrong hands). A friend of my grandmother knew someone in Poland who he would send the medals to somehow, and then that man would send it from Poland to us, but my grandmother's friend sadly passed away from a heart attack, so no we don't know how we will do it. Thank you.

**helmet2id** · 03-10-2019, 03:06 AM

I don't have an answer for you but I wish you the best of luck, these tributes should stay in the family. Jim G.

**Anderson** · 03-10-2019, 08:39 AM

I can't really understand why you need to send the medals to the US. Why not just keep them as a treasured family heirloom?

**PapaStalin1943** · 03-10-2019, 07:56 PM

We want to send them to the US, because that is where my family and I live, and the medals will be passed down to me, but, since my relative lives in Russia, it is illegal to take medals out of Russia, unless he signs paperwork saying that he allows us to have his medals, but since he had dementia, he cannot, since he doesn't even remember having the medals in the first place. So, I was wondering how my family can keep the medals in the family, without breaking any laws. (The reason we won't keep them in Russia once he passes, is because if we do not obtain them somehow a bit after he dies, the government keeps the medals, therefore we cannot keep them in our family for generations to come.)