People's Republic of Romania, 1948-1952

Last modified: 2008-08-30 by alex danes
Keywords: romania | coat of arms | rpr |
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by Calvin Paige Herring

• Overview of the Communist Era Flags
• Naval Flag, 1948-1952
• Naval Jack, 1948-1952
• National Arms, 1948-1952

See also:

• Romania
• Romania: Index of all pages

Socialist Romania had three different national flags which differed in the details of the arms which appeared on the central yellow stripe:

• 1948: the arms had a scroll bearing the letters 'RPR', no red star.
• 1952: the arms had a scroll bearing the letters 'RPR' and were surmounted by a red star.
• 1965: the arms had a scroll with the word 'ROMANIA' and were surmounted by a red star.

The second version was adopted in September 1952, 'RPR' standing for 'Romanian People's Republic'. The third version was adopted on 21 August 1965. The dexter part of the scroll bears the word 'Republica' and the sinister part 'Socialista' so the complete text reads 'Republica Socialista România' (Socialist Republic of Romania).
Mark Sensen, 27 March 1998

Following the abdication of the King, Romania adopted arms in the Communist style. The arms were to be modified only slightly. The arms consisted of a scene surrounded by sheaves of wheat wrapped with a ribbon of the national colors having the letters RPR emblazoned on it. The scene depicts Romania's mineral wealth (the oil derrick, the forests, mountains) basking the the glow of the sun.

The flag, with the arms, was the state flag and ensign and the war flag. The civil flag was the plain tricolour while there was a separate naval ensign of white over blue with the arms centered on the blue.
Sources: Preben Kannik, The Flag Book
Christian Fogd Pederson, The International Flag Book in Color
Smith, Flags and Arms Across the World
Crampton, The Complete Guide to Flags
Crampton, Flags of the World
Alexander, Flags of the World
Calvin Paige Herring, 05 May 1998

I have a question regarding Socialist Republic jacks. Barraclough states that the Romanian jack was a square version of the national flag "with two crossed anchors in place of the national emblem". His 1981 collaboration with the late William Crampton says that the jack was a square national flag with crossed white anchors in the hoist. The question is, was there a change in the jack of Romania between the 1969 and 1981 or was one of the books in error?
Calvin Paige Herring, 2 May 1998

by Jaume Ollé