Belarusian activists want white-red-white flag raised over Grunwald battlefield

July 14, Pozirk. Belarus’ exiled pro-democracy leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has appealed to Polish authorities to allow Belarusian activists to install the national white-red-white flag, banned by the government in Minsk, at the site of the 1410 Battle of Grunwald.

In her appeal, she described the Polish-Lithuanian forces’ landmark victory over the Teutonic Order as a “common legacy of the Poles, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and other peoples who defended their freedom together.”

She stressed that the battle, fought on July 15, 1410, is a key historical date for Belarusians, while the flag symbolizes the “historical continuity of Belarusian statehood and the modern fight for freedom.”

“Unfortunately, the authorities in Belarus are deliberately erasing the memory of the Battle of Grunwald and replacing it with Russian historical narratives,” she noted, suggesting that the flag-raising ceremony coincide with next year’s anniversary of the battle.

She sent the appeal, signed by more than 1,000 activists, to the authorities of the Warmian-Mazurian Voivodeship and the director of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald.

The battle shifted the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe and marked the rise of the Polish-Lithuanian union, which included the territory of present-day Belarus, as the region’s dominant political and military force.

The government of Alaksandar Łukašenka banned the white-red-white flag during the 2020 postelection protests, describing it as a Nazi symbol used by Belarusian collaborators during the Second World War.

Although the white-red-white flag originated in 1917, its colors are rooted in the historic Pahonia coat of arms—a white knight on a red background—which dates back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.