The flag was carried by the Polish delegation to the talks on the capitulation of the Warsaw Rising.
The flag was sewn on the night from 28 to 29 September 1944 by a nurse from the Polish Red Cross (PRC) insurgent hospital at 13 Mokotowska St / 2 Jaworzyńska St at an order from Hieronim Bartoszewski, the commandant of the hospital. On two occasions, 29 and 30 September 1944, the flag accompanied the Polish delegation to the talks held with Gen. Erich von dem Bach in Ożarów on the capitulation of the Warsaw Rising.
Members of the Polish commission for the investigation of the situation in the camps for prisoners of war and civilian population (Hieronim Bartoszewski, holding the PRC flag, Countess Maria Tarnowska, Vice President of the PRC General Board, LtCol Bohdan Zieliński "Tytus Barski, the AK Commander's delegate, and Lt Alfred Korczyński "Sas" as the interpreter) set out for the talks with Gen. von dem Bach from 6 Sierpnia St at the Warsaw Polytechnic on 29 September 1944. Both delegations met mid way between the Polish and German positions and went to Ożarów.
The flag survived the Rising. Hieronim Bartoszewski took it with him from Warsaw to Kraków, where his hospital was evacuated. After the hospital was disbanded in May 1945, the doctor brought the flag to Wrocław, where it remained carefully stored at the Bartoszewski family home for 75 years.
The immediate family of Doctor Hieronim Bartoszewski, Mr. Jerzy Bartoszewski (son) and Ms. Maria Czarnecka and Ms. Ewa Bartoszewska-Stróżyk (daughters), have decided to donate the historical artefact to the Warsaw Rising Museum (MPW). Together with the flag, the MPW has received also documents and memorabilia from the period of the occupation and Warsaw Rising left by Doctor Hieronim Bartoszewski.
The flag will undergo preservative treatment, after which it will become part of the Warsaw Rising Museum's permanent exhibition.
In the 15 years of its operation, the Warsaw Rising Museum has collected nearly 80,000 artefacts.
