Used NATO flag - The Slavic war

 

Small used NATO flag. The smell alone ensures its authentic :D

The story

I acquired this used NATO flag on an auction a while ago. The flag is dirty, the ends are shredded and smells of burned diesel/exhaust. The question was where it was used? I asked the auction house if they knew or could contact the seller, which didn't turn up anything :/
On the flag there was a clue, the makers mark! It reads "Mecsek zászlóműhely" which is Hungarian and translates to Mecsek flag workshop. A quick search on Google shows the workshop it still exist and is located in the city of Pécs / Hungary. They even have a website: https://www.mecsek-zaszlomuhely.hu/
First thing that struck me was my flag measured 50x40cm but on their website that size was not available? So I dropped them an email along with some photos' asking about the flag/construction and maybe the history behind. To my surprise the CEO replied and had quite an interesting story. I'm so grateful the person actually took the time to answer me but also to know the history even though its some years ago.

The CEO wrote:

In 1995, at the end of the South Slavic war, NATO sent peacekeeping forces to the region.
This force was originally called IFOR and later carried out similar activities under the name SFOR.
This force included the Northern Brigade, i.e. the Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Polish unit, which established a logistics base in Pécs.
These units ordered their flags from us. We sewed 50x40 cm NATO flags exclusively for them and the last time we produced them was in November 2000.
This is almost certainly where this flag comes from






Final thoughts

If you know more about this flag or even was part of the peacekeeping forces please let me know :)

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