Ova dvojica su pravili zastavu eu:
Arsène Heitz was a draughtsman born in
Strasbourg and worked at the
Council of Europe. He is the author of the
Flag of Europe (that of the Council of Europe and the
European Union).
Heitz worked in the postal service of the Council of Europe while the flag was being chosen between 1950and 1955 and he had submitted 20 of the 101 designs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Heitz#cite_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Heitz#cite_note-1 He proposed a circle of fifteen yellow stars upon a blue background;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Heitz#cite_note-ENA_flag-2 inspired by the twelve-star halo of the
Virgin Mary seen in
Roman Catholic art (present in
Strasbourg Cathedral).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsène_Heitz#cite_note-Economist_religious-3 His flag was eventually adopted by the Council, though with twelve stars and the design was finalised by
Paul Michel Gabriel Levy.
Paul Michel Gabriel Lévy was born in 1910 in
Belgium and served in the
Council of Europe. He worked on the
Flag of Europe in the 1950s after it was proposed by
Arsène Heitz and is a journalist and professor at the
Université catholique de Louvain.
Lévy was originally of
Jewish decent, but during the
Second World War, he vowed that if he survived the conflict, he would convert to
Christianity. Having survived the war, he duly became a
Catholic. In 1950, he joined the staff of the newly established Council of Europe and became its first Chief of its Department of Culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michel_Gabriel_Levy#cite_note-FLde-0 Lévy had to sort through the proposals flooding into his department and drew up the exact design of the finalist; Arsène Heitz's proposal for a circle of stars.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michel_Gabriel_Levy#cite_note-Levy-1
Some see Lévy's conversion to Christianity as an origin of the claimed religious symbolism on the flag. The flag's circle of stars resembles the twelve-star halo of the
Virgin Mary seen in
Roman Catholic art and the flag's designer (Arsène Heitz) as acknowledged that he was inspired by that symbolism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michel_Gabriel_Levy#cite_note-Economist_religious-2 Lévy originally backed the flag of the Pan Europe Movement. However, the cross element in its design was rejected by the Socialists and Turks as too Christian. It is claimed that one day, Lévy passed a statue of the Virgin Mary with a halo of stars and was struck by the way the stars, reflecting the sun, glowed against the blue of the sky. Lévy later visited the then Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and suggested that he should propose twelve golden stars on a blue ground as motif for the flag of Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michel_Gabriel_Levy#cite_note-FLde-0However, Lévy has stated that he was only informed of the connection to the Book of Revelation after it was chosen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Michel_Gabriel_Levy#cite_note-Levy-1 Official authorities of the European Union disregard the biblical interpretation as myth.
