Pin made in the Soviet Union. The text on the pin reads:”Rostov On Don” and on the bottom the same but in the German language. Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. Rostov-on-Don has a population of over one million people, and is an important cultural centre of Southern Russia. During World War II, German forces occupied Rostov-on-Don, at first from 19/20 November 1941 to 2 December 1941, after attacks by the German First Panzer Army in the Battle of Rostov and then for seven months from 24 July 1942 to 14 February 1943. The town was of strategic importance as a railway junction and a river port accessing the Caucasus, a region rich in oil and minerals. It took ten years to restore the city from the damage during World War II. In 1942 up to 30,000 Russian Jews were massacred by the German military in Rostov-on-Don at a site called Zmievskaya Balka.