What is Poland’s National Anthem?
Flag of Poland - courtesy wikimedia.org - PD
“Dabrowski’s Mazurka”) is the national anthem of Poland. It is often known as “Poland Is Not Yet Lost,” or “Song of the Polish Legions in Italy.” It is a lively mazurka with lyrics written by Jozef Wybicki in Reggio nell’Emilia, Cisalpine Republic (now in Italy), in July 1797. This was two years after the Third Partition of Poland erased the once enormous country from the European map. The mazurka demonstrated the idea that Poland, in spite of lack of political independence, had not perished as long as the Polish people were still alive.
When Poland re-emerged as an independent nation in 1918, Mazurek Dabrowskiego became its de facto anthem. In Warsaw it was officially adopted as the national anthem of the Republic of Poland in 1926. Hopefully this bit of cultural information will help enrich any planned visit to Poland.
Lyrics are:
Poland has not perished yet
So long as we still live
That which alien force has seized
We at sabrepoint shall retrieve
March, march, Dąbrowski
From Italy to Poland
Let us now rejoin the nation
Under thy command
Cross the Vistula and Warta
And Poles we shall be
We’ve been shown by Bonaparte
Ways to victory
March…
Like Czarniecki Poznań regains
Fighting with the Swede,
To free our fatherland from chains
We shall return by sea
March…
Father, in tears
Says to his Basia
Just listen, it seems that our people
Are beating the drums
March…
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According to Wikipedia, the official version omits the sabre-rattling towards Moscow, and also deletes the last stanza with its reference to Kościuszko (who, unbeknownst to the lyricist Józef Wybicki, was no longer fighting in Europe but was in Philadelphia when the anthem was written).
Thank you, I used the words of the original poem and have since made the correction.