Jozef Wybicki Quotes
Poland has not yet perished.
The song was adopted as the Polish national anthem in 1927. At the battle of Macieowice, the great Polish hero, Thaddeus Kosciusko, was seriously wounded and is said to have uttered, “Poland is finished.” The song written by another General was meant to counteract the psychological effect that the Russian enemies of Poland were trying to create by quoting Kosciusko. There are even today, Polish patriots who claim that Kosciusko never made the statement and it was all propaganda.
Jozef Wybicki, 1747–1822, Polish general, poet and politician, First line of song, Mazurek Dabrowskiego, 1797
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Ukraine for another example {642421}.
The Poles had revolted against Russian rule but despite initial victories, the revolution was unsuccessful. The Poles however had the sympathies of most of the literati throughout Europe.
The notion that a the first line of a national anthem should be focused on the survival of the nation is explained by the history of countries that have and have not existed having been overrun and occupied and absorbed into other nations. That fear exists centuries later. See Poland for another example {642422}.
Executed by the English for his part in the Easter Uprising.
Józef Rufin Wybicki was a Polish nobleman, jurist, poet, political and military activist of Kashubian descent. He is best remembered as the author of "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" (English: "Dąbrowski's Mazurka"), which in 1927 was adopted as the Polish national anthem.
