Kotwica

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Kotwica.

Kotwica on a monument to heroes of the Warsaw Uprising.

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The Kotwica ([ˌkɔt'fiʦa]; Polish for "Anchor") was a World War II emblem of the Polish Secret State and Armia Krajowa (Home Army, or AK). It was created in 1942 by members of the AK Wawer "Small Sabotage" unit as an easily-usable emblem for the Polish struggle to regain independence. The "Anchor" is a combination of the letters PW, standing for Polska Walcząca ("Fighting Poland") . It also stands for Wojsko Polskie ("Polish Army") and Warsaw Uprising ("Powstanie Warszawskie").

The Kotwica was first painted on walls in Warsaw, as a psychological-warfare tactic against the occupying Germans, by Polish boy scouts on March 20, 1942. On June 27, 1942, a new tradition was born: to commemorate the patron saint's day of Polish President Władysław Raczkiewicz and Commander-in-Chief Władysław Sikorski, members of the Armia Krajowa stamped several hundred copies of the German-backed propaganda newspaper, Nowy Kurier Warszawski (The New Warsaw Courier), with the Kotwica. Initially, only 500 copies were so stamped; the following year, the number reached 7,000.

On February 18, 1943, the Armia Krajowa's commander, General Stefan Rowecki, issued an order specifying that all sabotage, partisan and terrorist actions be signed with the Kotwica. On February 25, the official organ of the Armia Krajowa, Biuletyn Informacyjny, called the Kotwica "the sign of the underground Polish Army". Soon the symbol gained enormous popularity and became recognized by most Poles. During the later stages of the war, most of the political and military organizations in Poland (even those not related to Armia Krajowa) adopted it as their symbol. It was painted on the walls of Polish cities, stamped on German banknotes and post stamps, printed in the headers of the underground newspapers and books, and it became one of the symbols of the Warsaw Uprising.

After World War II, Poland's communist authorities banned the Kotwica. Used by most associations of former Armia Krajowa members in exile, it was strictly prohibited in Poland. As the communist grip weakened, the symbol was no longer censored, and in 1976 it became one of the symbols of Ruch Obrony Praw Człowieka i Obywatela (ROPCiO), an anti-communist organization defending human rights in Poland. Later it was also adopted by various other political organizations, ranging from the far-right Konfederacja Polski Niepodleglej (KPN) of Leszek Moczulski to the far-left Solidarność Walcząca (Fighting Solidarity).

[edit] See also

Cross of Lorraine - symbol of the Free French
H7 - symbol of Haakon VII of Norway
OZO (short for Oranje Zal Overwinnen, The House of Orange Shall Prevail) - the symbol of the Free Dutch
W - symbol of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

A Warsaw monument bearing Kotwica graffito painted on by Szare Szeregi member Jan Bytnar.

Cross-and-Kotwica monument in an Armia Krajowa cemetery at Budy Zosiny. As the men of Grupa Kampinos (Group Kampinos) headed for the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains on September 29, 1944, they were intercepted and surrounded at Jaktorów by the Germans.