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Polish History by
Stef Komar
The Polish National Anthem
After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost its independence in 1795 with the third and final partition perpetrated by Tsarist Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary, many Poles and Lithuanians left Poland and Lithuania to escape repression by the occupying powers. While abroad they organized into military formations called legions with the idea of eventually liberating their fatherland.
General Jan Dabrowski was given permission by Napoleon to create his legions in Italy where they helped the Italians fight for independence from Austro-Hungary. One of Dabrowski’s friends, Jozef Wybicki, wrote “The Song of the Polish Legions in Italy” which became very popular in the Polish-Lithuanian émigré population and then quickly in the occupied lands. It became known as Dabrowski’s Mazurek as the melody was based on the traditional Polish dance “The Mazurek”.
The first words and the stirring beat of Dabrowski’s Mazurek immediately captured the attention of those who sought to recreate the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Those original words were:
Jeszcze Polska nie umarla - Poland has not yet died
Kiedy my zyjemy - As long as we live
Co nam obca moc wydarla - Whatever foreign might ripped away from us
Szabla odbierzemy - We will take back with the sword
Marsz, marsz Dabrowski - March, Dabrowski, march
Do Polski z ziemi wloskiej - from the land of Italy to Poland
Za twoim przewodem - Under your leadership
Zlaczem sie z Narodem - We will reunite with the Nation
While Poland was swallowed up shortly after adopting the second constitution in the world after the United States the French successfully abolished their Monarchy and survived as a Republic. Historians, in fact, credit the Kosciusko Uprising of 1794 with helping the French cause by tying down sizeable Prussian and Austro-Hungarian troops that would have been used to crush the fledgling French Republic.
It was natural therefore for the Poles that found themselves in exile to align themselves with Napoleon and the French Republic in the hopes of liberating Poland and Lithuania. The fourth verse of the “Song of the Legions” states:
Przejdziem Wisle, przejdziem Warte - We’ll cross the Vistula and Warta rivers
Bedziem Polakami - and we will be Poles
Dal nam przyklad Bonaparte - Bonaparte gave us his example
Jak zwyciezac mamy - Of how to achieve victory
Napoleon did liberate Poland but initially disappointed the Poles by creating a small Duchy of Warsaw mostly from land that had been occupied by Prussia and which was only a fraction of the size of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Nevertheless, Poles and Lithuanians flocked to Napoleon’s army when the Duchy of Warsaw was enlarged and Napoleon planned to attack Russia. In fact, an orchestrated rebellion in Lithuania against the Tsars became the pretext for Napoleon attacking, and the first units to cross the border were Polish-Lithuanian. Poles and Lithuanians made up the largest contingent of foreign troops in Napoleon’s army; 98,000 strong out of a total of 500,000 French and other soldiers. Unfortunately for the Poles and Lithuanians who had experience with the Russian winter, Napoleon failed to heed their advice and went on to occupy Moscow with the well known disastrous results.
Upon the defeat of Napoleon, the Duchy of Warsaw was re-occupied and Dabrowski’s Mazurek was banned by Russia and Prussia. It was sung again in different versions during numerous uprisings, by Polish fighting units in World War I, and during the Polish–Bolshevik war of 1920. During the European Revolutions of 1848 it was sung throughout Europe as a revolutionary anthem in Berlin, Prague, Vienna and Paris. The melody was also the basis for an anthem for a Pan-Slavic movement in Prague and a translation of this Pan-Slavic anthem became the national anthem of Yugoslavia, and then Serbia and Montenegro.
Dabrowski’s Mazurek became Poland’s national anthem in 1926 and its final version was again adopted as the national anthem after World War II.
Source:
www.wikipedia.org
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