Poland Map Flag 1939

[Laura N Gerard]

OnAugust 25, 1939, the aging German pre-dreadnought battleship Schleswig-Holstein arrived in the port of the Free City of Danzig. Officially, it was there to celebrate the anniversary of the German victory in the Battle of Tannenberg in World War I: colorful flags flew from the masts and the men stood at attention in their white dress uniforms, brass buttons shining in the late summer sun. But the ship had a more sinister purpose. Unbeknownst to onlookers, over 200 marines were hidden below deck, preparing for a deliberate and unprovoked attack against Poland. In the gray morning light of September 1, 1939, the ship quietly moved the short distance from Danzig harbor to the Bend of Five Whistles, across from the small Polish military transit depot at Westerplatte.

The fight was unequal from the beginning. The Germans had amassed an army of 1.5 million men for the attack along with 2,750 tanks, 2,315 aircraft, and 9,000 guns. Theoretically, the Poles had an army of one million men, but many were unable to mobilize; those who did had outdated equipment and far less of it with just 4,300 guns, 210 tanks, 670 tankettes, and 800 aircraft. The Polish plan was to put the bulk of their forces in the west to defend against German attacks and wait for the French and British, with whom the Poles had signed a March 31 military alliance, to attack Germany from the west. The Poles did not believe that their allies would allow them to be overrun by the Germans without coming to their aid. They were wrong.

Despite their valiant fight against such terrible odds, any chance of the Poles holding out was dashed on September 17 when Stalin invaded the part of Poland granted him under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviets attacked with over 450,000 troops, 4,736 tanks, and 3,300 aircraft. The Polish army was already mortally weakened, and plans to mount a defense in the south at the Romanian bridgehead were now obsolete. Warsaw surrendered on September 27 with a final death toll of over 20,000 civilians. Fighting continued as Germans and Soviets quashed final pockets of resistance, but on October 6, following the Polish defeat at the Battle of Kock, German and Soviet forces gained full control over the battered country. Although Poland never formally surrendered, this marked the end of the Second Polish Republic. The Polish dream of independence, which had appeared so full of promise in 1918, had come to an end.

The stability of the country and the system of government under the Parliamentary Democracy (1919-1926) wasn't working well for conservatives like Marshal Pilsudski which prompted him to overthrow the Parliamentary Democracy in the Coup of May 1926 to remedy the shortcomings of what he called the "democratic mess" and to introduce the "Sanacja" (1926-39) system of limited democracy, guided by the increased power of the executive branch. It was codified in the Constitution of 1935.

With the Sanacja period came a completely different rendition of the Polish White Eagle,designed by Zygmunt Kaminiski in 1927, on the flag and coat-of-arms that sets off the periods of the two differentregimes in the very illustrative way.

The Sanacja was an informal Polish movement originated by the circle of friends of Marshal Pilsudski, which prompted him to take power from the democratically elected government in the May 1926 coup d'tat. It wasn't a fascist movement, like in Spain, Italy or Germany, because it just limited somewhat the democracy instead of strangling it all together. It advocated primacy of the national interest above the party politics. Pilsudski never sought the absolute, totalitarian power, enjoyed a widespread support of the majority of the people and accomplished great deals in the fields of internal stability, protection of minorities (Jews in particular) and the rapid economic development. The constitution of 1935 written under the auspices of Pilsudski could be called mildly authoritarian at best. After Pilsudski's death in 1935, the people who run the country in his name, distorted the system to the point of becoming more and more authoritarian, but still being far, far away from fascism.

This was the State Flag of the Second Republic of Poland, as constituted by Polish parliament in 1927. The crown, designed by Zygmunt Kaminiski in 1927, adoring the eagle's head is a symbol of sovereignty and not of monarchy. On land this flag was used as the diplomatic flag abroad. This flag with the coat-of-arms was also used as the state flag and a merchant flag.

A war flag (or military flag) is a variant of a national flag for use by the nation's military forces on land. (The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign.) Under this strict sense of the term, few nations currently have war flags, most preferring to use instead their state flag or standard national flag for this purpose.

The practice of having special Military airport flags called "Flaga lotnisk" started during the Second Republic. They consisted of horizontal bicolors of white and red on a swallow-tailed flag, defaced with the arms of Poland in the middle of the white stripe and the Air Force checkerboard in the white stripe between the coat-of-arms and the hoist.

With the delayed and unclear decisions of the League of Nations, the Czechs took advantage of the Polish involvement in the war in the East and sized the disputed territory by force. In 1938, when the Munich Agreement sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, the Poles decided to act and occupied that piece of land inhabited by the majority Polish population, which felt discriminated by the Czechs. Ostensibly, it was the move to prevent the German takeover of the territory and an important railroad junction. Although the Poles of Zaolzie were euphoric to be reunited with their nation, the occupation of it was an outright mistake at that time as it appeared to be a common action with the Nazi Germany and Hungary to dismember and liquidate Czechoslovak Republic. Soon, in 1939, the area was taken by the Nazis anyway, and after the war Stalin decided it would revert to Czechoslovakia again, disregarding the ethnic composition of it.

This flag is based on the photos of the local people weaving these flags while welcoming the Polish troops entering Zaolzie, the Land Beyond the Olza River. On September 1, 2009, during the commemorations of the 70th Anniversary of the beginning of World War II, Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, publicly apologized to the Czechs for that invasion, taking them by the considerable surprise. Now, with the both nations belonging to the Schengen Zone of the European Union, the issue of the border becomes practically meaningless.

Right after the successful invasion of Poland and division of the country with the allied Soviet Union, the Third Reich annexed outright some territories and set up the rest as the temporary reservoir of forced labor, which in the span of no more then 20 years would be open to German colonization. Unlike the plans for the Russian, Ukrainian and Belorusian population, which were considered more playable, the Poles were destined to be completely exterminated. The Germans, knowing well their independent spirit, didn't want to have any troubles with them and envisioned the world without them, right after the elimination of the Jews and Roms.

Dr. Ottfried Neubacker (acclaimed as the "father" of vexillology) submitted, in the late 1939, a set of proposals for the symbols of the General Government. These proposals were not solicited by anybody, but the Governor-General, Dr. Hans Frank loved them, and wanted to adopt them for his "realm." Hitler and Himmler told him to forget it.

Dr. Neubacker told Alfred Znamierowski (another "titan" of vexillology) that he considered this proposal being one of the best he had ever done. Indeed, it is a striking design, both in simplicity and symbolism.

After conquering Poland, the Nazis created the temporary General Government in the middle Poland, but annexed the large portions of the Western and Northern Poland inti the Third Reich. Warthegau was set up on, mostly, the territory of the former Prussian province of Posen (Poznan). From 1939 to 1940 it was called Reichsgau Posen, the name was changed to Warheland, derived from the main river - Warthe (Warta). Before the war, the German population of the region constituted 16% of the total, but soon after takeover 3/4 of the million of the Poles and Jews were expelled to the General Government and the massive immigration of the volksdeuche from the Baltic countries and the Balkans was encourage in the campaign of the intensive Germanization of the territory.

The only gauleiter of the Warhegau was Arthur Greiser, SS Obergruppenfhrer, responsible for organizing the Holocaust in Poland, among other war crimes. He was sentenced to death after the war and hanged.

It was created out of the former Free City of Danzig and the annexed territory of the so-called "Polish Corridor" (Greater Pomeranian Voivodship). Some parts of East Prussia were also attached to it. In contrast to the Gau administrative system of the Third Reich, the name "Reichsgau" indicated the annexed territory. The other Reichsgaue were Reichsgdau Warheland and Reischsgau Sudetenland.

After treacherous invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Soviets conducted a phony referendum on the freshly conquered territories of Eastern Poland. According to the official Soviet tally, the people living in the area agreed to the incorporation of their lands into the Byelorussian SSR.

Once again, after treacherous invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Soviets conducted a phony referendum on the freshly conquered territories of Eastern Poland. According to this "referendum" everybody agreed to the incorporation of their lands into the Ukrainian SSR, this according to the their official tallies.

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