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Socialist Yugoslavia: Republics

Republics in Socialist Yugoslavia
Use of flags in the Republics
President of a Republic

See also:

Republics in Socialist Yugoslavia

Until 1946/47 Yugoslav constituent states were not called Republics (since Yugoslavia was not yet declared a Republic itself), but were tilted 'Democratic Federal [e.g. Croatia]' (Demokratska Federalna [Hrvatska]). Kosovo was not treated as separate entity, but Sandżak was. In the constitutions of 1946 and 1947, the Republics were defined as 'People's Republic' (Narodna Republika, in Slovene Ljudska Republika), and Autonomous Region of Vojvodina (Autonomna Pokraijna Vojvodina) and Autonomous District of Kosovo and Metohija (Autonnmna Oblast Kosovo i Metohija, later called also Kosmet) were formed. In 1963 the titles were changed to 'Socialist Republic' (Socijalistička Republika, in Slovene Socijalisticna Republika) and 'Socialist Autonomous Region' (Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina), now for both Vojvodina and Kosovo. Since the Autonomous Regions were parts of Serbia, the Serbian flag was used there.

Željko Heimer, 2 October 2004

Use of flags in the Republics

The flags of the Republics were supposed to be used by goverment only, but were in practice used widely. Most of the companies and buildings were owned by the state [or society, as it was called], so they had right to display the flags, anyway. There were no versions for use at sea, of course.

It was normal to display three flags together (still you would find three flagpoles in front of most buildings):

Yugoslavia in the middle
Republic to the left
Party to the right (from the viewer).

In the areas with a significant minority population, the flag of the minority was added to this. In some towns the town flag would be added also (again as a rule, with a red star), but it was not so often (I remember Zagreb and Rijeka were doing so, Rijeka was special in displaying five flags in rows on the lightpoles: Yugoslav, Croatian, Party's, Italian and the town flag).

It was not so unusual to see in public places displayed all of the flags of Republics in a circle, and state and Party flags in the middle.

Željko Heimer, 1 April 1996

President of a Republic

by Željko Heimer

When on board on a Navy ship, the President of a Republic used a a square tricolour flag with the yellow bo