Pieśń o fladze Konstantego Ildefonsa Gałczyńskiego
A song about the flag by Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (Summary)

Summary/Abstract: Pieśń o fladze [A song about the flag] is one of the two (apart from Pieśńo żołnierzach z Westerplatte [A song about the soldiers of Westerpalatte]) mostimportant and most famous poems of Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński, which werewritten by the poet during World War 2. However, in the case of the title poem,both the date and circumstances of composing it, as well as the date and place ofthe first printing and reprintings of it have still remained shrouded in mystery. Thesituation is the more surprising as after World War 2 there have appeared not onlythree editions of collected poems by Gałczyński, but also several studies devotedto the poet.In the present article, I attempt to prove that A song about the flag was writtenin Stalag XI A Altengrabow, shortly after 7 October 1944 (when the first transportsof Warsaw Insurgents reached the place), whereas it was first published in Warsawon 1 July 1945 in the columns of the rather unknown conspiratorial magazine Polskai Świat [Poland and the World] (the author’s name not given). The first printingof the poem (already with the author’s name given) appeared on 11 November1945 in the weekly Polak [A Pole] edited in the Polish Military District “Dössel”in Peckelsheim. Still, as regards the first appearance of the poem in the officialcirculation in Poland, it did not take place until on 10 March 1946 in the columnsof the weekly Dziś i Jutro [Today and Tomorrow]. At last, its first printing in theauthor’s volume in exile was in the collection entitled Wiersze [Poems], edited inRome in April 1946, while its printing in the author’s volume of poems in Polandwas finalized in the extensive collection under the same title, which appeared inWarsaw in November of the same year.

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