Republic Of The Unfaithful

A Victory for Freedom of Expression — The History of a Censored Design

In 2016, Behemoth launched a Polish tour under the name Rzeczpospolita Niewierna — The Republic Of The Unfaithful. The artwork created for the tour featured a white eagle without a crown, horns growing from its head, an inverted cross, skulls and serpents. Heavy metal imagery. Nothing more.

That wasn't how Poland's then-government saw it.

A complaint was filed claiming the design defamed Poland's national emblem. Charges followed — against Nergal, against the graphic designer Rafał Wechterowicz, and against Behemoth Webstore. Against us. We had been operating for over ten years, building a business we were proud of, and overnight we were being prosecuted as criminals.

The design was banned from sale. We pulled it immediately. The merchandise was gone, the income with it — and in its place came years of prosecutor's offices, courtrooms, and public hatred from supporters of the right-wing government. Loyal customers distanced themselves. The reputational damage was real and lasting.

What made it harder was knowing we hadn't done anything wrong. The eagle in the design wore no crown. It wasn't Poland's coat of arms — it was an artist's interpretation, built in the tradition of heavy metal visual language that has existed for decades. The court agreed. Twice, in fact — the charges were dismissed twice at the lower court level. Both times, the prosecution appealed. As long as that government held power, the case kept going.

Eight years.

In August 2024, with a change in government, the prosecution finally withdrew the charges. The case was closed. We were cleared of everything.

Why we're bringing it back

This isn't a restock. We're not simply filling warehouse space or riding nostalgia.

The ban cost us significantly — in revenue, in reputation, in years of uncertainty. Now that we've been exonerated, staying quiet about it would feel like a waste of everything we went through. The re-release of this design is a direct response to what happened: we were told we couldn't sell it, we fought back through the courts, and we won.

For Behemoth, this design has always represented something broader than tour merchandise. It was a statement about artistic freedom, about the right to create work that challenges the comfortable and the conservative. That meaning only deepened over eight years of being silenced.

For us at Behemoth Webstore — we were collateral in someone else's culture war. We didn't choose the fight, but we didn't back down from it either. Bringing this back is how we close that chapter on our own terms.

Thank you

Throughout this, the support from Behemoth's fanbase was constant and genuine. It mattered. This victory belongs to everyone who stood with the band and with us during those years. We don't take that lightly.