Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A well-documented C.B.E. awarded to Stefan Terlezki Esq., sometime M.P. for Cardiff West, and Chairman of Cardiff City Football Club, who having experienced the horrors of both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany was a powerful voice against totalitarian governments, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union was an ardent supporter of an independent Ukraine

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, C.B.E. (Civil) Commander’s 2nd type neck badge, silver-gilt and enamel, with both full and miniature width neck ribands, in Fattorini, Birmingham, case of issue, extremely fine £300-£400

C.B.E. London Gazette 13 June 1992:
‘For political and public service.’

Stefan Terlezki was born in Antonivka, Poland (now part of Ukraine), on 29 October 1927. Occupied by the Soviet Forces in 1939 and annexed to the Soviet Union, several of his family were arrested and deported to Siberia. Following the German invasion in 1941, still only 14, Terlezki was sent to Germany as part of a consignment of slave labour, and spent the rest of the War working on farms near Voitsberg. After being ‘liberated’ by the Soviet forces in 1945, he was due to be conscripted into the Red Army to fight the Japanese, but escaped, and ended up in the British Zone of Occupation in Austria. In 1948 he was allowed to emigrate to Britain, and was sent to work as a coal-miner in Wales. After finding alternative work in the canteen of a miners’ hostel, he eventually went into hotel management, and ran his own hotels in Aberystwyth and Cardiff.

Terlezki’s political career began in 1968, when he became a Conservative member of Cardiff City Council. He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament in both 1974 elections, losing the Cardiff South East seat on both occasions to James Callaghan. The following year he was appointed Chairman of Cardiff City Football Club, although he refused to travel to the Soviet Union when Cardiff City played Dynamo Tbilisi in the European Cup Winners’ Cup, as he risked being sent to Siberia as a Red Army deserter.

As well as serving as the Chairman of various Charitable bodies, Terlezki was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Cardiff West in the 1983 General Election, succeeding the former Speaker, George Thomas. Whilst in Parliament he remained true to his right-wing reputation, and unsuccessfully introduced a Bill to replace the May Day bank holiday with ‘Sir Winston Churchill Nation Day’ holiday. Despite increasing his vote at the 1987 General Election, he lost his seat to the Labour candidate, with the party holding the seat ever since.

Terlezki was appointed H.M. Government's representative on the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Committee in 1989, with his experience of life in both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany making him a powerful voice against totalitarian governments, and following the collapse of the Soviet Union he became an ardent supporter of an independent Ukraine. He condemned Ukraine’s preservation of close ties with Russia, especially the leasing of naval and military bases in the Crimea, arguing that it allowed Russia to maintain a foothold in the country, and pressed the case for Ukrainian membership of the European Union. He published his memoirs, From War to Westminster, in 2005, and died on 21 February 2006.

Sold with an extensive archive, including the Bestowal Document for the C.B.E., this mounted in a glazed frame; named Certificate for the 1977 Silver Jubilee Medal, this similarly mounted in a glazed frame; a photograph of the recipient outside Buckingham Palace having received his C.B.E., and a video ‘still’ of him being invested by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II; photographs of the recipient with various personalities, including H.M. the King (when Prince of Wales), Margaret Thatcher, Michael Heseltine, Geoffrey Howe, and William Hague; the recipient’s British Passport, with various Ukrainian Visas in it; two cartoons featuring the recipient, one whilst Chairman of Cardiff City F.C., both mounted in glazed frames; a copy of the recipient’s autobiography, From War to Westminster, together with a copy of a letter written by the recipient to the then Editor of the Spectator asking him to review it favourably, ‘Please Boris don’t let me down!’; and other ephemera.