Stefan Czarniecki Statue In Tykocin

Stefan Czarniecki

Stefan Czarniecki or Stefan Łodzia de Czarnca Czarniecki 1599-1665. He was a military commander, regarded as Polish national hero. Czarniecki is remembered as one of the most able Polish commanders of all times. His pursuit of the retreating Swedes to Pomerania and Denmark (1658-1659), particularly his crossing with his entire army to the Danish isle of Alsen, was commemorated in the Polish national anthem, the "Dąbrowski's Mazurka", with the words:

Click Here to Listen to the Polish National Anthem

Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Dąbrowski's Mazurek)

Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła,	Poland has not yet perished,
Kiedy my żyjemy.	So long as we live.
Co nam obca przemoc wzięła,	What foreign violence has taken from us,
Szablą odbierzemy.	We will reclaim, sword in hand.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski,	March, march, Dąbrowski,
Z ziemi włoskiej do Polski,	From the land of Italy to Poland,
Za twoim przewodem	Behind your leadership
Złączym się z narodem.	We will unite as a nation.
Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę,	We'll cross the Vistula, we'll cross the Warta River,
Będziem Polakami,	And we shall be Poles,
Dał nam przykład Bonaparte,	Bonaparte has shown us
Jak zwyciężać mamy.	How to be victorious.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski...	March, march, Dąbrowski...
Jak Czarniecki do Poznania	As Czarniecki to Poznań
Po szwedzkim zaborze,	After the Swedish occupation,
Dla ojczyzny ratowania	To save our country
Wrócim się przez morze.	We will return across the sea.
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski...	March, march, Dąbrowski...
Już tam ojciec do swej Basi	A father was saying to his (daughter) Basia
mówi zapłakany:	With tears in his eyes:
"Słuchaj jeno, pono nasi	"Listen, now, are those our boys
Biją w tarabany."	Beating the drums."
Marsz, marsz, Dąbrowski...	March, march, Dąbrowski...

The song originated during the formation of the Polish Legions in Italy under the command of General Henryk Dąbrowski. Józef Wybicki, a close friend of Dąbrowski, wrote it in Reggio Emilia between 15-21 July, 1797, to the tune of a mazurka. Beginning with the words, "Poland has not yet perished," it was a nationalist call to arms to save the Polish state which had fallen under foreign occupation. The "Anthem of the Polish Legions in Italy" ("Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech") quickly became very popular with the Polish Legionnaires, but also gained wide currency within Poland. It became one of the most popular hymns during Poland's November 1830 and January 1863 uprisings.

During the European Revolutions of 1848, it won favor throughout Europe as a revolutionary anthem. This led the Slovak poet Samuel Tomašik to write the anthem, Hey Slavs, based on the melody of the Polish Anthem. This was later adopted by the First Congress of the Pan-Slavic Movement in Prague as the Pan-Slavic Anthem. During the Second World War, a translation of this anthem became the national anthem of Yugoslavia, and later, Serbia and Montenegro. Similarity of the anthems sometimes caused confusion during the matches of football or volleyball representations of these countries. However, after the 2006 split between the two, neither Serbia nor Montenegro kept the song as its national anthem, choosing instead Bože pravde and Oj, svijetla majska zoro respectively.

Historical context:

* Dąbrowski: General Henryk Dąbrowski, was one of the leaders of the Polish Legions. The anthem was originally written as an inspiration to his troops, who had been organized on Italian soil by Bonapartist France to fight against the occupiers of Poland.

* "Poland is not yet lost, so long as we live": At the time the anthem was written, the Polish State had been erased from the political map of Europe by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795. See Partitions of Poland.

* As Czarniecki to Poznań: Hetman Stefan Czarniecki was one of the leaders of Poland's ultimately victorious war against the 17th-century Swedish invasion. At the time of the occupation, he returned to Poland to fight the invaders alongside the King who was then at the Royal Castle in Poznań. In the same castle, Józef Wybicki, the author of the anthem, started his career as a lawyer (in 1765).

* Basia: A diminutive form of "Barbara." In this verse, "Basia" is meant to symbolize a generic Polish daughter, while her father is meant to symbolize a generic Polish man. The thought of young girls back at home who would be overjoyed to hear their brethren returning in arms to liberate the country was doubtless a morale booster for the Polish Legionnaires.

* Racławice: A village in Poland, and the site of a significant battle during the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising, in which the Polish insurgents' victory against invading Russian forces was largely assured through the valor of peasants armed with scythes.

The Czarniecki connection to Tykocin is that the statue was erected there as he was a village elder in Tykocin.