Polizia Repubblicana Commemorative Medal

This medal bears the inscription “POLIZIA REPUBBLICANA”, referring to the police corps of the Italian Social Republic, active between 1943 and 1945.

Its central design consists of an eagle with outstretched wings, positioned above a horizontal sword and a skull. The imagery draws upon symbols associated with the RSI and its armed formations, but the composition does not correspond with a known regulation award or official insignia of the Republican Police.

Official Polizia Repubblicana insignia followed different patterns. The republican eagle was one of the principal identifying symbols, while other badges combined the eagle with the republican fasces and the initials P.R. The skull, by contrast, was associated mainly with certain battalions and special units, often in combination with a dagger.

The combination of eagle, edged weapon and skull therefore appears to merge several separate symbolic elements into a single design. This makes a commemorative or veterans’ origin more likely than an officially instituted wartime decoration.

Post-war veterans’ production connected with former RSI formations was extensive and included medals, pendants, badges and commemorative pieces that often reused or reinterpreted wartime symbols without belonging to an official award system.

A lesser-known detail concerns the skull motif: within the Polizia Repubblicana it was not the general emblem of the Corps, but was linked primarily to specific combat or special units. Its combination here with the broader eagle emblem therefore suggests a commemorative synthesis rather than a regulation wartime design.