Symbolic Use
Being reminded of Polish military victories over the Teutonic Order used to stir German sensibilities to such an extent, that inclusion of the Grunwald Swords on a 1938 postage stamp commemorating King Vladislaus Jagiełło and Queen Jadwiga resulted in a formal diplomatic protest of Nazi Germany. In the interest of "maintaining good neighborhood", Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the Polish Post to withdraw the stamp from circulation; on the 1939 version of the stamp, the swords were replaced by a heraldic ornament.
In 1943, Gwardia Ludowa, a communist resistance movement in occupied Poland introduced its own military decoration, the Cross of Grunwald, featuring the Grunwald Swords on its obverse. It was later adopted by the People's Republic of Poland as the second highest military award. The cross ceased to be awarded in 1987 and was formally discontinued in 1992. The swords featured in the Polish Navy Jack in the years 1946-1955.
In modern Poland, the Grunwald Swords remain a popular military symbol, especially in Warmia and Masuria. The commune of Grunwald uses the two swords in its coat of arms.
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Famous quotes containing the word symbolic:
“Iconic clothing has been secularized.... A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.”
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