God, Honour, Fatherland or Honour and Fatherland (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Bóg, Honor, Ojczyzna'' or ''Honor i Ojczyzna'') is one of the

unofficial mottos of Poland Poland has no official motto of the State, namely the one which is recognized as such by the Polish national law. However, there are some common phrases which appear commonly on banners, flags and other symbols of the Polish State, or are conside ...

. It is commonly seen as the motto of the

military of Poland The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland (, ; abbreviated SZ RP), also called the Polish Armed Forces and popularly called in Poland (, roughly "the Polish Military"—abbreviated ''WP''), are the national armed forces of the Republic of Pola ...

, and has been confirmed as such by several Polish legal decrees.

History

The phrase "Honour and Fatherland" can be traced to the slogans and banners of Polish revolutionaries of the 19th century, fighting to regain Polish independence following the

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

. This is also the motto of the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

, instituted by Napoleon in 1802. It is likely that the phrase was brought to Poland by the soldiers of the Napoleonic-era Polish legions. It was introduced as phrase to be used on the banners of the newly reconstituted Polish military of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

in 1919. The word God was officially added to the standards, preceding words Honour and Fatherland, by the decree of the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

in 1943. This decree remained in force till it was changed by the communist government of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

in 1955 to "For Our Fatherland the People's Republic of Poland" (''"Za naszą Ojczyznę Polską Rzeczpospolitą Ludową"''). Following the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

, the "God, Honour, Fatherland" phrase was restored by the government of the

Third Polish Republic Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

in 1993. Since 2018, the phrase appears on the

Polish passport A Polish passport () is an international travel document issued to nationals of Poland, and may also serve as proof of Polish nationality law, Polish citizenship. Besides enabling the bearer to travel internationally and serving as indication o ...

Significance

The motto is interpreted as reconfirming the

Constitution of Poland The Constitution of the Republic of Poland ( or ''Konstytucja RP'' for short) is the supreme law of the Republic of Poland, which is also commonly called the Third Polish Republic ( or ''III RP'' for short) in contrast with the preceding syste ...

's clause about the citizen's duty to serve the

Fatherland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic nation ...

(''ojczyzna''), with the

social contract In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is an idea, theory, or model that usually, although not always, concerns the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Conceptualized in the Age of Enlightenment, it ...

allowing exceptions

honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

and

faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

(''Ojczyźnie wszystko, prócz miłości Boga najwyższego i Honoru''). It is one of the symbols connecting Polish

patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

to (

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

)

religiosity The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines religiosity as: "Religiousness; religious feeling or belief. ..Affected or excessive religiousness". Different scholars have seen this concept as broadly about religious orientations and degrees of inv ...

Notes

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, author=Roman Zawliński, title=Poradnik językowy, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ophAAAAMAAJ, year=1996, publisher=Państwowe Wydawn Naukowe, page=27, language=Polish {{cite book, author=Henryk Binkowski, title=Wojsko i obronność w działalności Sejmu RP: 1989-2001, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZAlAQAAIAAJ, year=2003, publisher=Wydawn. Sejmowe, isbn=978-83-7059-585-2, page=66, language=Polish {{cite book, author=Aleksander Gella, title=Development of Class Structure in Eastern Europe: Poland and Her Southern Neighbors, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8keIXDyF_EoC&pg=PA154, year=1989, publisher=SUNY Press, isbn=978-1-4384-0392-2, page=154 {{cite book, author=Waldemar Kitler, title=Bezpieczeństwo Narodowe RP: podstawowe kategorie, uwarunkowania, system, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHJXMwEACAAJ, year=2011, publisher=Akademia Obrony Narodowej, isbn=978-83-7523-159-5, page=242, language=Polish {{cite book, author=Jean-Denis G.G. Lepage, title=French Fortifications, 1715-1815: An Illustrated History, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeVAPShsbTMC&pg=PA24, year=2010, publisher=McFarland, isbn=978-0-7864-5807-3, page=24 {{cite book, author1=Jacek Macyszyn, author2=Wojciech Krajewski, author3=Krzysztof Paleski, title=Napoleon i Polacy, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYufAAAAMAAJ, year=2005, publisher=Dom Wydawniczy "Bellona", isbn=978-83-11-10121-0, page=18, language=Polish {{cite book, author=Jerzy Murgrabia, title=Symbole wojskowe Polskich Sił Zbrojnych na Zachodzie, 1939-1946, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0FJKAAAAIAAJ, year=1990, publisher=Wydawn. Bellona, isbn=978-83-11-07825-3, page=29, language=Polish {{cite book, author=Department of Linguistics Australian National University Anna Wierzbicka Reader, title=Semantics, Culture, and Cognition: Universal Human Concepts in Culture-Specific Configurations: Universal Human Concepts in Culture-Specific Configurations, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vdbt5bUI78C&pg=PA443, year=1992, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0-19-536091-2, page=443 {{cite book, title=Rocznik Mazurka Dąbrowskiego, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZgmAQAAIAAJ, year=2001, publisher=Graffiti BC, page=65, language=Polish {{cite web, url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19271150980 , title=art. 7 ust. 3 i wzór nr 5 do Rozporządzenia Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 13 grudnia 1927 r. o godłach i barwach państwowych oraz o oznakach, chorągwiach i pieczęciach (Dz. U. z 1927 r. Nr 115, poz. 980 ze zm.), publisher=Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych, date= , accessdate=2013-08-19 {{cite web, url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19550470315 , title=art. 10 ust. 4 i załącznik nr 2 do Dekretu z dnia 9 listopada 1955 r. o znakach Sił Zbrojnych (Dz. U. z 1955 r. Nr 47, poz. 315 ze zm.) , publisher=Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych, date= , accessdate=2013-08-19 {{cite web, url=http://isap.sejm.gov.pl/DetailsServlet?id=WDU19930340154 , title=art. 14 ust. 3 i załączniki nr 5 i 5a do Ustawy z dnia 19 lutego 1993 r. o znakach Sił Zbrojnych Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Dz. U. z 1993 r. Nr 34, poz. 154 ze zm.), publisher=Internetowy System Aktów Prawnych , date= , accessdate=2013-08-19 National mottos National symbols of Poland Military mottos Polish political phrases

History

Significance

See also

Notes

Further reading

References