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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A banner bearing the personal standard of Adolf Hitler – no versions of which were known to remain anywhere in the world – has been discovered at a museum in the Polish city of Poznań, where it had lain unidentified for decades.
The National Museum in Poznań (MNP) has announced that it does not intend to put the item on display amid concerns it could become an object of worship for neo-Nazis.
Do niedawna uważano, że nie zachował się ani jeden sztandar Führera. Te, które sporadycznie wypływały na aukcjach, to zapewne fałszywki. Odkryty w Poznaniu jest unikatem na skalę światową. Tak jak unikalny jest ból głowy, o który przyprawia on muzealników.https://t.co/EpUDqyFPEF
— Beata Biel (@beatabiel) December 4, 2024
The find was made by art historian Aleksandra Paradowska while researching an exhibition she was preparing in Poznań on everyday life under German occupation during World War Two.
She told broadcaster TVN that among thousands of items she examined from the collections of a branch of MNP located in Poznań city hall, one that caught her eye was a piece of fabric described in the catalogue as a “German banner from the Second World War”.
Its quality made clear that it was intended for a high-ranking official. But the director of the city hall museum told TVN that they had believed the banner, which has been held by the museum for decades, belonged to Arthur Greiser, the Nazi governor of the part of German-occupied Poland in which Poznań was located.
However, Paradowska, intrigued by the item, investigated further and – after examining archival images and taking account of the materials the banner is made of – came to the conclusion that it was in fact Hitler’s personal standard. Such banners were used to indicate the presence of the Führer at official events.
An image from a 1942 US War Department handbook on identifying Germany flags showing Hitler’s personal standard at the bottom
The one in Poznań – which Paradowska notes “is in perfect condition” – was initially found in the city’s opera hall in the 1960s. It was likely sent there during the war to be used in case Hitler visited, as was done at many important institutions in the Reich, notes TVN.
The broadcaster reports that it was previously believed that no such banners had survived until today, making the Poznań find unique. Only a few small pennants bearing the standard are known of.
A spokesman for MNP confirmed to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the museum accepts Paradowska’s findings. However, he added that “the fact that this may be the only banner of its kind does not make us particularly proud; we do not plan to exhibit it, nor are any further studies of this artefact planned”.
The director of the city hall branch of MNP told TVN that “an object so strongly associated with Hitler could become an object of neo-Nazi worship” if it were displayed. So any exhibition involving the banner “should be very well thought out”.
Six people who were filmed celebrating Hitler’s birthday in Poland while wearing Nazi uniforms and saluting in front of a burning swastika have been found guilty of promoting fascism https://t.co/SYPqn3nMd3
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) June 1, 2022
Under Polish law, the propagation of Nazism and Nazi symbols is illegal, punishable by up to three years in prison. However, the law does not apply to educational displays of such symbols in, for example, museums.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west on 1 September 1939. The Soviet Union then launched its own invasion from the east around two weeks later. Poland subsequently remained occupied until 1945, before falling under Soviet influence after the war.
Six million Polish citizens were killed during the war, representing 17% of the population, the highest proportional death toll of any country during the conflict. Around half the victims were Polish Jews.
The German occupiers also laid waste to many Polish cities – including the capital, Warsaw, which saw around 85% of its buildings destroyed – and plundered or destroyed much of Poland’s cultural heritage.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: ÖNB Digital
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
