This is a postally unused postcard of the propaganda against the Polish occupation of Vilnius. The illustration depicts a personified Lithuania chained in Vilnius near the Gediminas tower with heart taken away by an eagle. Printed in 1924.
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The ironic thing, on those years, is that the strongest football team in Poland was the club Pogoń Lwów, having as coat of arms the Lithuanian "Vytis".
ReplyDeleteLook at the end of the article here.
Well, even in modern Poland, there are places where the Lithuanian Vytis is used as coat of arms. Most of these areas used to be part of the Grand duchy of Lithuania. For example, the present Polish province of Podlasie's coat of arms is half Polish eagle and half Lithuanian Vytis as well as its capital city Białystok's city coat of arms. But I didn't know Lwów's football team carried Vytis as their team emblem! Very interesting indeed!
ReplyDeleteIt is a memory of the period in which Poland and Lithuania had been strongest and united (1569-1795). "Vytis" was the symbol of the noble class, called "Szlachta" in Polish and "Šlėkta" or "Bajorai" in Lithuanian".
ReplyDeleteWell, Vytis goes back even before the memory of the Polish-Lithuanian union, there is a surviving document from 1366 with a seal of the Grand Duke of Lithuania featuring the Vytis. Moreover, a major part of Podlasie was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania before being incorporated into Poland. I would say the coat of arms of Vytis of Podlasie survived during the union period.
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