Use | National flag |
---|---|
Proportion | 1:2 |
Adopted | 1945 |
Design | Three equal horizontal bands in the pan-Slavic colors, blue (top), white and red, with a yellow-bordered red star at the flag's center |
Use | Civil and state ensign |
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | late 1940s |
Design | Three equal horizontal bands in the pan-Slavic colors, blue (top), white and red, with a yellow-bordered red star at the flag's center |
Use | Naval ensign |
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 1963 |
The flag of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consisted of three equal horizontal bands colored in pan-Slavic colors, blue (top), white and red, with a yellow-bordered red star at the flag's center. The last Yugoslav national flag, used 1945-1992, was adopted during World War II as a modification of the flag that represented the wartime Yugoslav state (used 1943-1945) and was used by the resistance, the Partisans. The changes mostly affected the red star in the center: it was enlarged, its shape was changed, and its borders were outlined in yellow.
History
World War II
In 1941 during World War II Yugoslavia was invaded and occupied by the Axis powers, and the Yugoslav government fled into exile in London. Soon afterward the Yugoslav resistance, the Partisans, was formed. The Partisans did not support the Yugoslav government-in-exile and initially used a number of different flags until finally one was universally adopted. The new flag was a the Yugoslav blue-white-red tricolor with a red star occupying the center of the white field, and with the dimensions altered to 1:2 instead of 2:3. The Partisans were recognized by the Allies in late November 1943 (Tehran Conference) and the name of the Yugoslav state was altered to Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (DFY). The old flag continued to be used by the government-in-exile (up until its merge with the Partisan government, the NKOJ in 1944), by its diplomatic representatives, and by the western Allies until 1945 - while in Yugoslavia, the version with the red star was primarily in use.
SFR Yugoslavia
After the war, in 1945, the red star flag became universally official. It was given its final shape by enlarging the star and adding a narrow yellow border. The flag was usually accompanied on official buildings by the flag of the federal republic and the flag of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. Because of this, many buildings in former Yugoslavia still carry a three-poled flag holder. A smaller version of the flag served as the civil ensign while an elongated banner version was seen flown in front of the Yugoslav parliament.
Other flags
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Standard of the President of the Assembly
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Flag of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ)
Republic flags
Use | National flag, civil and state ensign |
---|---|
Proportion | 1:2 |
Adopted | 1943 |
Use | Naval ensign |
Proportion | 2:3 |
Adopted | 1942 |
During World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal state comprising six federal republics, each of which had its own flag and coat of arms. Flags of the Yugoslav federal republics were defined by each of its six constituent republics. The flag of the socialist republic was hung together with the flag of the SFRY on national holidays and other special occasions. All of the flags were based on the old historical flags of the respective Yugoslav constituent nations, except the flag of the SR Bosnia and Herzegovina and SR Macedonia which gained statehood after the WWII (Bosnia did exist a long time before that). Many of them used the pan-Slavic colors, red, white and blue. They were all embellished by a communist symbol, the red star. As for Bosnia and Herzegovina, because of its multiethnic character, its flag consisted of a red flag but with a small SFR Yugoslav flag in the upper-left corner.
The individual flags of the six Yugoslav socialist republics were as follows:
Republic | Flag | Use | Present-day national flag |
---|---|---|---|
SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
SR Croatia | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Croatia |
Flag of Croatia | |
SR Macedonia | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia |
Flag of Macedonia | |
SR Montenegro | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro |
Flag of Montenegro | |
SR Serbia | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Serbia |
Flag of Serbia | |
SR Slovenia | Civil and state flag and ensign of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia |
Flag of Slovenia |