The initiator of a petition to install a white-red-white banner at the Grunwald battlefield, Juryj Mieliaškievič, is urging Belarusians to attend the Polish festival “Dni Grunwaldu 2026” on July 15 and support the initiative with their presence and white-red-white flags.
In 1410, the combined forces of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Order. Banners formed in Belarusian lands also made a significant contribution to the victory.
A group of Belarusian activists in Poland has appealed to the management of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald with a petition asking for a Belarusian white-red-white banner to be installed alongside the Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian flags. According to the authors of the appeal, this would be an act of historical justice, a tribute to Belarusians’ participation in the Battle of Grunwald and a symbol of solidarity with the Belarusian people, who continue to fight for freedom and independence today, said the petition’s initiator and acting chairman of the BPF Party, Juryj Mieliaškievič.
In a conversation with Yaraslau Ivaniuk for the Belarusian Service of Polish Radio, Juryj Mieliaškievič said that the idea for the petition came from an initiative by Ales Lahvinets, who, together with his associates, had attended previous Grunwald festival events marking the victory at the Grunwald battlefield. “They noticed that three banners were displayed: Polish, Lithuanian and Ukrainian, and it was clear that the Belarusian banner was missing from this field, one that would represent the participation of Belarusian banners in the victorious battle”, Mieliaškievič explained.
The victory at Grunwald “demonstrates historical justice and the kind of solidarity that brings victory; it is about how people can defend their land so they can live on it as they see fit. It is a story of success, our shared success. And it is a very important historical lesson that must be repeated every time, remembered and studied so that we can draw on this experience of solidarity”, the author of the petition believes.
Grunwald Days 2026 will take place at the Grunwald battlefield from July 15 to 18, with the main event being a reenactment of the Battle of Grunwald on July 18.
