![[II Republic flag]](../images/p/pl.gif)
Last modified: 2018-12-15 by rob raeside
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Since World War 1, Poland has had 3 main flag types (as well as a many
specialized flags): the national flag (a plain white-red bicolor - the
shade changed in 1928 and 1980), the civil ensign (with shield and eagle),
the war flag (ditto, but swallow-tailed). Before and early in World War
2, the eagles were crowned (a redesign of the crown occurred in 1928).
When the Russians installed the communist regime, the crowns were removed
from all the eagles (arms, flags, military badges, etc.). The exile government
in London continued using the crowns until 1990. After the collapse of
communism, the crowns were restored, but not all at once: the arms in 1989,
the civil ensign in 1990, but he war flag only in 1993. A very thorough
treatment of all this (including all the history from medieval times) is
in [zna95] (in Polish but with summary and
captions in English).
Norman Martin, 16 August 1997
by Dov Gutterman.
Flag of Poland constituted by Polish parliament August 1st, 1919. Flag
and ratio (5 : 8) existing today. Since 1921 red colour was claimed as
crimson.
Adam Kromer, translated by Peter 'Mikolaj' Mikolajski,
22 Sept 2000
![[II Republic Ensign (1918-1920)]](../images/p/pl-1918.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
This banner has strong influence of Russian banners. It's almost identical
to flag of Kingdom of Poland 1815-1930 except St. Andrew's cross which is
red, not blue. I think that this flag was used in 1918-1920 only.
Adam Kromer, translated by Peter Mikolajski, 22 Sep 2000
![[Poland state flag 1920-1927]](../images/p/pl-1920.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
Flag of Poland constituted by Polish parliament August 1st, 1919. On
land this flag was used as diplomatic flag used abroad. On sea this flag
was used as merchant banner. Used to 1930.
Adam Kromer, translated by Peter Mikolajski, 22 Sep 2000
![[Polish War flag 1920-1927]](../images/p/pl-1919.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
![[Polish State flag 1927-1939]](../images/p/pl-st27.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
![[Polish War flag 1927-1939]](../images/p/pl-w27.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
by Dov Gutterman.
National Flag of Poland. Red shade (cynober) was slightly changed in
1980.
Adam Kromer, translated by Peter Mikolajski, 22 Sep 2000
![[State Flag of Poland - 1956-1990]](../images/p/pl-1956.gif)
by Adam Kromer, from his
website.
I received the following piece of information on the polish flag from
Wojtek
Grabski. Is this as he says, or is it a politically biased legend?
The polish crown is once again present on the coat of arms to symbolise
the re-emergence of polish self-rule... The crown was not used during times
when Poland was under occupation or imposed rule.
Jorge Candeias, 14 April 1998
It is mostly legend. Some very early Polish arms and hence banners had
the eagle without the crown. In 1295 or slightly earlier, the eagle got
a crown, first an open and later a conventional royal crown. This was kept,
even during the period when the Russian emperor was "King of Poland" and
the Prussian king was "Grand Duke of Posen" (1815-1917). During the republic,
there were minor changes in the form of the crown. The government imposed
by the Russians chose to eliminate the crown, using the early arms referred
to above as the excuse, while the Polish government in exile (and its troops
in World War II) continued to use the crown. It indeed continued to do
so until Walesa was elected president and the government in exile returned
the national insignia since it regarded the Walesa government as legitimate.
The new government immediately restored the crown. Practically speaking,
the Polish eagle without the crown was an invention of the communist regime.
Norman Martin, 14 April 1998
Norman's reply on this topic is the most correct I have seen. The crown
returned to the eagle soon after Walesa's election. I remember following
discussion of this in the Polish press. It was one of the first issues
considered by the new government.
Robert Czernkowski, 16 April 1998
![[Polish War flag 1956-1990]](../images/p/pl-w56.gif)
by
Adam
Kromer, from his
website.
