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People's Republic of Bulgaria, 1946-1967

Народна републи&

by Željko Heimer

Introduction
Coat of Arms (1946?-1948)
Possible Flag Using Pre-1948 Coat of Arms
Coat of Arms (1948)
Civil Ensign
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Chairman of the Presidium
International Workers' Movement
Rank Flags of 1949

See also:

Introduction

In 1947 a new coat of arms was adopted, and the state flag with the coat of arms in the canton changed, too. The civil ensign became a simple tricolour. Regarding the background colour of the shield -- it seems that the adopted version was gradually changed to blue without any regulation about it. Without entering the discussion of "socialist heraldry" in depth, I believe that the change was influenced by other socialist emblems of this style where the "field" was always "felt" to represent the sky and tended to be represented in blue. A similar tendency might be seen in Yugoslav coat of arms, as well as those of the Yugoslav republics and, I guess, among SSR coats of arms as well.
Željko Heimer, 0 9 September 2001

The second Bulgarian constitution (adopted on 06 December, 1947) says in its 97th article: "The flag of the People's Republic of Bulgaria is of three colors - white, green, red, placed horizontally. In the left upper corner over the white stripe is placed the coat of arms of the People's Republic."
Ivan Marinov, 20 March 2001

The #88 Decree of the Grand National Assembly on 27 January 1948 approved the plastic and the graphic pattern of the coat of arms. According to that, the coat of arms was a golden lion on a red background; surrounded by corn-ears, fixed by a red ribbon with inscription 9 IX 1944 on it, and a red five-pointed star above. Later, the coat of arms was changed. The official explanation of the symbols on the coat of arms, given by #431 Decree on 14 June 1967, Section 3, already talked about a sky-blue background, cogwheel and tricolour ribbon. The last changes of the coat of arms were regulated by #954 Decree on 07 December 1967.
Stoyan Antonov, 10 September 2001

Although I did not find the legislative text (in the article from 1968 about the Bulgarian coat of arms by Hristo Dermendjiev), this information must be right. In the book Gerbat (The Coat-of-Arms) by Borislav Nikolov & Maria Cherneva (Sofia, 2000, ISBN 954-90599-2-8) I found the following:

"The graphic and plastic image of the coat of arms, adopted [January 1948] after the Constitution was retained for two months only. On the recommendation of Georgi Dimitrov, considerable amendments were introduced. Below the lion was placed a cogwheel, the wheat ears were wrapped in red ribbon with tricolour ends. The background became blue. The changes were regulated by decrees the same year (1948?)". I will continue to search for this decree in the 1948 Official Gazette issues.
Stoyan Antonov, 23 September 2001

Coat of Arms (1946?-1948)

by Željko Heimer

Before 1948, the coat of arms had a white background (shield), as seen in a number of photos in Ivanov (1998).
Stoyan Antonov, 10 September 2001

Possible Flag Using Pre-1948 Coat of Arms

by Željko Heimer

Coat of Arms (1948)

by Željko Heimer

The source of the image of the 1948 Bulgarian coat of arms is an article: Dermendzhiev, H. B'lgarskiyat gerb [The Bulgarian Coat of Arms], in Voennoistoricheski sbornik [Military-historical Miscellany], Vol. 5, 1968, p.55.
Stoyan Antonov, 26 January 2004

Civil Ensign

by Željko Heimer

Chairman of the Council of Ministers

2:3 by Željko Heimer

Chairman of the Ministry Council. (Flag na predsedatelya na Ministerskiya s'vet). A flag in the pattern of the naval ensign, in which the red star is replaced with the state coat of arms.
Željko Heimer, 19 January 2004

Chairman of the Presidium

2:3 by Željko Heimer

Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly (Flag na predsedatelya na Prezidiuma na Narodnoto s'branie).
The national tricolour of white over green over red and in the canton the naval ensign, in which the red star is replaced with the state coat of arms.
The most natural tendency for the interpreter of this flag would be to match the upper edge of the green stripe in the canton with the upper edge of the green stripe in the field -- but it is not so as clearly the picture in Ivanov (1998) shows. The constitutional changes in 1971 changed the ruling structure in Bulgaria, and the position of the Presidium of the People's Assembly as the chief of the state was replaced with the Chairman of the State Council. The new flag was adopted for it with a new design that also included by that time the slightly modified coat of arms.
Željko Heimer, 19 January 2004

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