Białystok. There will be a discussion about changing the coat of arms. The current one refers to the traditions of the Russian invader

– After the news about the change of the coat of arms spread among the residents, a lot of doubts arose – noted Agnieszka Zabrocka, a councilor of the Civic Coalition in Białystok, at the last session of the city council.

The councilors were put to a vote on a draft resolution submitted by the mayor of Białystok on changing the city's coat of arms.

– The messages I received from residents show that many are afraid of the far-reaching consequences of changing the coat of arms, which will result in the need to replace the coats of arms on city institutions or change the city's flag and colors. And it's not only about financial issues, but also about wondering why to do it when the coat of arms has been with us for so many years. We also talked about it among our club. We decided that the resolution could not be adopted without conducting an extensive discussion on this subject, Zabrocka tells us.

Councilors at the session – with the councilors' objection PISwho wanted to adopt a resolution and then discuss it – sent the draft resolution to the applicant.

Vice-President Rafał Rudnicki said that a working team would be established to discuss changing the coat of arms.

As councilor Zabrocka indicated earlier, such a team could include representatives of the president, councilors and historians – experts in the history of the city and heraldry. – And if the team decides that a change is necessary, we would like to return to this topic – said the councilor.

As the director of the city council office, Andrzej Matys, said at the session, since the city council adopted the current coat of arms in 1995, doubts have been raised many times in the local press and among heraldry and historians that it is inconsistent with the rules of heraldry and historical tradition. .

– At the time of adopting this resolution, there was no Heraldic Commission at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, whose task is to give opinions on coat of arms designs. Only in 2015, when reviewing city decorations, the commission clearly expressed a negative opinion in a resolution of May 15, Matys said.

The justification for the draft resolution presented at the last session shows that the Heraldic Commission found that the coat of arms currently used by Białystok is not only contrary to the Polish historical and heraldic tradition, but also directly refers to the heraldic tradition of the Russian invader.

“The city of Białystok still uses an incorrect coat of arms, referring to the coat of arms of the so-called 'Biełostock oblast', granted in 1809 by the Russian partitioner, and repeated in the city's coat of arms by Tsar Alexander III in 1882.” – we read in the justification.

The commission appeals to return to the proper historical coat of arms, granted to the city in 1749 by King Augustus III of Saxony. He also emphasizes that Białystok is one of the two voivodeship cities of the current Republic of Poland that received its coat of arms by approval of the Polish king (the other is Gdańsk, also today boasting a coat of arms approved by the privilege of King Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1457).

“It should therefore be repeated that the coat of arms of Białystok was granted by virtue of the privilege of King Augustus III, issued at the request of the then owner of the city, Klemens Branicki, on February 1, 1749.” – says the justification for the draft resolution.

The coat of arms from Saxon times looks like this: on a red background, placed below a golden crown, we see a Griffin with a golden beak and golden front paws, with which he holds the initials JKB. That is, the above-mentioned Jan Klemens Branicki.

The current coat of arms is divided in half. On the upper part there is an Eagle with a crown, on the bottom there is the Lithuanian Pogoń, which refers to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

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– There's nothing to discuss here. We need to restore the city's coat of arms from the 18th century and that's it, and not use the one referring to the times of the partitions. The only argument for staying with the latter is that we have become accustomed to it. However, it is about agreement with the Polish historical and heraldic tradition – says Andrzej Lechowski, a historian and expert on the history of Białystok.

He adds that the issue of changing the Białystok coat of arms is not new, and fierce disputes took place already in the interwar period. – Public opinion has divided into two camps – he says.

As he wrote in the local “Kurier Poranny” in 2012, the first camp was led by Zygmunt Zagłoba-Łozowicki, a cartoonist, amateur historian and author of engravings depicting scenes from 18th-century Białystok. He was a supporter of the version with Orzeł and Pogoń. His main opponent was Jan Glinka, an outstanding historian and expert on the history of Białystok. He was in favor of the coat of arms with a griffin.

“In the spring of 1933, the Ministry of the Interior asked local governments with a directive to establish coats of arms. The point is to sort out the chaos that prevails in this area and to finally determine the coats of arms.” The city authorities got to work and entrusted Glinka with investigating the matter,” wrote Lechowski.

Glinka, of course, opted for the coat of arms with the Gryf, but Zagło-Łozowicki's supporters managed to create a situation in which the town hall was in favor of the Gryf, and the city council was in favor of the slightly changed Russian coat of arms of the Białystok Oblast. And such a coat of arms was sent to the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment.

“However, it rejected this proposal, which smelled a lot of Russian, and ordered the city to use Gryf. The matter returned to the starting point. In 1936, one of the Białystok newspapers published a lengthy article entitled “A stain on the coat of arms of Białystok”. It argued that Jan Glinka's concept was correct. Finally, it was mocked that it was characteristic that the local National Democrats were the loudest in favor of maintaining the current coat of arms created by the Russian government,” Andrzej Lechowski wrote in 2012.

Now he hopes that after so many years he will finally be able to return to the correct coat of arms. – After all, Jan Glinka is known to this day, but hardly anyone has heard of Zygmunt Zagłob-Łozowicki – concludes the historian.