Pin made in the Soviet Union. The text on the pin reads:”Saratov”. Saratov is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. As of the 2010 Census, Saratov had a population of 837,900, making it the 17th-largest city in Russia by population. Saratov is 389 km from Volgograd, 442 km from Samara, and 858 km southeast of Moscow.
During World War II, Saratov was a station on the north–south Volzhskaya Rokada, a specially designated military railroad supplying troops, ammunition and supplies to Stalingrad. In 1942-1943 the city was bombed by German aircraft. The main target was the Kirov oil refinery, which was heavily bombarded, seriously damaging the installation and destroying 80% of its plant and temporarily interrupting its work. The Luftwaffe was able to destroy all the fuel stock at bases in Saratov and eliminate the oil plant in the city.
Until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Soviet authorities designated Saratov a “closed city”; off-limits to all foreigners due to its military importance as the site of a vital facility manufacturing military aircraft.