When the bullets from Polish cannons and series of bullets from PPSh drove the Nazis from the column out, together with platoon sergeant Kazimierz Otap, corporal Antoni Jabłoński and gunners Aleksander Karpowicz and Eugeniusz Mierzejewski we ran across the street towards the obelisk. Climbing the stairs leading to the top of the column, we tripped over tangles of telephone wires, ammunition boxes, and densely scattered shell casings. We heard single sounds of gunshots all around us. We realized that we were clearly visible within a radius of several hundred meters. After a while, a Polish flag fluttered at the top of the column, which was a symbol of Prussian militarism.  It was hastily made from red parachute canopy fabric and white canvas. We had a shaft carved hurriedly from the branches of a fallen tree. After placing the flag, we stood at attention for a moment. In a few words, I told my friends about the historical role we fulfilled on our frontline soldier path. We were deeply moved.

second lieutenant Mikołaj Trocki

The 2nd of May is celebrated as a Polish National Flag Day to commemorate the events described above.  How it happened, however, that the white and red flag had a chance to be placed in the capital city of the Third Reich? And after so many years, do we know everything about those events?

In the spring of 1945 the war in Europe was coming to an end. On the 2nd of May, after over a dozen days of fighting, Berlin capitulated. The most fanatic German soldiers and armed civilians were still resisting in different parts of the collapsing Reich, however, the fall of the capital city was a heavy blow for the Germany. For the attacking armies it was a military and political success. The city was captured by the Red Army and the First Polish Army. For the Poles, who were dealing with the Nazi terror since the first day of the war it was a special moment. Unfortunately, the joy and pride were overshadowed by the fact that the main triumphers were the Soviets, who 6 years earlier, together with the Germans, had caused the outbreak of the war and occupied over half of Poland’s territory. Nevertheless, the sight of the white and red flag that fluttered on the Berlin Victory Column at dawn on May 2 must have had great significance for Polish soldiers.

However, as it often happens in history, there are many versions of this event. According to one of them, the flag was in fact hung by the Polish soldiers, but not the ones usually mentioned. The second assumes that the flag also appeared on the Reichstag earlier. But here, too, the accounts are not consistent, and significant inaccuracies raise many questions. Did this event result in fistcuffs between Polish soldiers and the Red Army soldiers who witnessed of described events? Or maybe it is true that there was no fight, but Soviet soldiers treacherously shot the Polish daredevils? If so, did they shoot at the soldiers who were just hanging the flag, or did they shoot them only after they had been captured and disarmed? The questions keep multiplying and the answers are missing.

Will we ever know what it really looked like on 2nd May 1945  in Berlin? Currently, this seems really unlikely, as there are less and less participants and witnesses of this events. Maybe will forever remain an unexplained page in the history of war…