A gold coloured metal badge. The badge face is 1.9cm in diameter and has a long, stick pin style fastener to the rear. This badge is from the Plzen Esperanto society and was made in the 1970's. Historical Background
Given that for a long time Esperanto was illegal in the former Soviet Union (including Czechoslovakia), these badges must have represented far more to their owners at that time than they did in countries where freedom was taken for granted. Often Czech and Soviet Esperanto pin badges are quite small as if to protect the owner from notice by government officials. Esperanto was created in the late 1870s and early 1880s by Dr. Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that transcends nationality and would foster peace and international understanding between people with different regional and/or national languages.
Esperanto attracted the suspicion of many totalitarian states. The situation was especially pronounced in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
In Germany, there was additional motivation to persecute Esperanto because Zamenhof was Jewish. In the early years of the Soviet Union, Esperanto was given a measure of government support, and the Soviet Esperanto Association was an officially recognized organization. However, in 1937, Stalin reversed this policy. He denounced Esperanto as "the language of spies" and had Esperantists exiled or executed. The use of Esperanto was effectively banned until 1956.
