Poland

Polska

Last modified: 1997-09-03 by zeljko heimer
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by zeljko heimer 27-JAN-1996

• Polish Ensigns and Jack
• Polish People's Army
• Grand Duchy of Warsaw
• Polish Flags with Arms
• Kingdom of Poland
• Cities:
  • Gdansk
  • Szczecin

The war ensign is a white over red bicolor, swallow tailed with two tails, on the white stripe is a red shield with a white eagle with a yellow crown. The merchant ensign is the same without the swallow tail. This is still an alternate flag for Poland, except during the comunist regime (1945-1990) the eagle had no crown.

nathan augustine 05-DEC-1995

The merchant ensign was an alternate flag in the sense of being a political statement. Before 1990, the ensign (with the crowned eagle) was popular among Polish emigrees who flew it to demonstrate their opposition to the communist regime.

greg d. 06-DEC-1995

Polish jack is white over red, with a cross pattee in the inverted colours of the fields, on which appears a "dextrochere", right hand with a sword.Proportions 1:1. (source: the flags pages of the BROCKHAUS ENZYKLOPAEDIE, dated 1968 but which still show many valid flags.)

pascal vagnat 02-MAY-1996

by zeljko heimer 17-JUL-1996

james dignan gets this flag from a stamp marked XXXV-Lecie (35th anniversary) Ludowego Wojska Polskiego. [Ludowe Wojsko Polskie = Polish People's Army i.e. the old communist regime's armed forces].

This pattern is in general use for Polish military units; it would have the name of the unit, and even battles in which it had fought. The pattern is reminiscent of the shape of the medal of the Virtuti Militari order, the highest Polish order for valour, which has (I think) been re-established since the fall of the communist regime. The Virtuti Militari is the same shape as the white parts of the flag together with the ring containing the eagle (Polish national emblem) in the centre.

robert czernkowski

Grand Duchy of Warsaw was founded in 1807 (under King of Saxony; Napoleon became Grand Duke in 1809, IIRC). Roughly central and SE modern-day Poland. As Boney set it up as a restored rump Polish state, can we assume that it used the white-over-red?

In 1815 most of it became the Kingdom of Poland, which was supposed to be autonomous within the Russian Empire, I'm pretty sure *that* used the Polish colours until its suppression in 1830.

roy stilling 26-JAN-1996

by zeljko heimer 21-JUL-1996

The state flag of Poland is with the arms. Earlier we discussed the comunist nations with the least and most communist symbols on them, Poland's flag's only change during the communist period was the removal of the crown from the head of the eagle on its arms. The current version returns the crown. I think this vesion is still the state flag, but it may now be an alternate useable by anyone.

The presence of the crown on the eagle is interesting since the Polish monarchy ended compleatly in 1795, and was constitutionally limited for many centuries before that, yet each Polish flag since has included the crown, with the above mentioned exception.

nathan augustine 24-FEB-1996

by josh fruhlinger 17-FEB-1996