Anthem · Protest and freedom · 1908 · Europe
Rota
A Polish song of 1908, "The Oath", written against German rule and its suppression of Polish culture.
- Words
- Maria Konopnicka
- Music
- Feliks Nowowiejski
- Culture
- Poles under the partitions; the Polish independence movement
- Language
- Polish
- Place
- Cieszyn (words); Kraków, Poland (first sung)
- Date
- words 1908, first published 7 November 1908; music 1910, first sung 15 July 1910
- Type
- Anthem · Protest and freedom
- The words
- Public domain (lyrics by Maria Konopnicka, first published 7 November 1908; music by Feliks Nowowiejski, 1910)
The story
Maria Konopnicka, a poet and activist for Polish independence, wrote "Rota" ("The Oath") in 1908 while staying in Cieszyn, as a protest against the German Empire's policy of forced Germanisation of the Poles in the lands Prussia had annexed in the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Under Prussian and then German rule there, political leaders such as Otto von Bismarck and Eugen von Puttkammer had pressed for the "uprooting" of the Poles, and the poem was written as a reply. It was first published in the newspaper Gwiazdka Cieszyńska on 7 November 1908.
Feliks Nowowiejski, a composer, conductor and organist, set it to music two years later. It was first sung in public in Kraków on 15 July 1910, at a patriotic demonstration marking the 500th anniversary of the Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald, and it quickly became popular across partitioned Poland. Until 1918 it was the anthem of the Polish Scouting movement. From 1920 to 1922 it was the state anthem of the Republic of Central Lithuania, a puppet state wholly dependent on interwar Poland, and in Poland itself it was among the songs considered for the national anthem, favoured especially by the political right; "Poland Is Not Yet Lost" was chosen instead.
During the German occupation in the Second World War, on the eve of Independence Day, 11 November 1939, scouts in Zielonka near Warsaw put up posters bearing the poem; in reprisal the occupiers executed nine scouts and other inhabitants of the town. The communist authorities after the war also kept the song, making it the anthem of the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division. After 1989 it became the official anthem of the Polish People's Party and later of the League of Polish Families. Its melody was played by the Gdańsk carillon until 2003 and served as the signature theme of two regional television stations; in 2010 the Sejm honoured the song and its author by a special resolution, and since May 2024 an autograph score of 1910 has been on permanent display in the Palace of the Commonwealth in Warsaw.
What it says
A solemn oath of loyalty to Poland and its culture, sworn in defiance of forced Germanisation. Its mood is grave and resolute.
The words
Nie rzucim ziemi, skąd nasz ród,We will not abandon the land our people come from,
Nie damy pogrześć mowy!We will not let our speech be buried!
Polski my naród, polski lud,We are the Polish nation, the Polish people,
Królewski szczep piastowy,Of the royal stock of Piast,
Nie damy, by nas zniemczył wróg…We will not let the enemy Germanize us…
— Tak nam dopomóż Bóg!— So help us God!
Do krwi ostatniej kropli z żyłTo the last drop of blood in our veins
Bronić będziemy Ducha,We will defend the Spirit,
Aż się rozpadnie w proch i w pyłUntil into dust and ashes falls apart
Krzyżacka zawierucha.The storm of the Teutonic Knights.
Twierdzą nam będzie każdy próg…Every threshold will be a fortress for us…
— Tak nam dopomóż Bóg!— So help us God!
Nie będzie Niemiec pluł nam w twarz,The German will not spit in our face,
Ni dzieci nam germanił.Nor Germanize our children.
Orężny wstanie hufiec nasz,Our armed host will rise,
Duch będzie nam hetmanił,The Spirit will be our hetman,
Pójdziem, gdy zabrzmi złoty róg…We will go when the golden horn sounds…
— Tak nam dopomóż Bóg!— So help us God!
Original: Maria Konopnicka (1908). Text from Wikisource; public domain.
The English is the Institute’s own translation, made from the original for this page.
Notes on the translation (5)
- line 1.4: 'szczep piastowy' = the stock (tribe) of the Piasts, the first royal dynasty of Poland.
- line 2.4: 'Krzyżacka zawierucha' = the storm (turmoil) of the Krzyżacy, the Teutonic Knights; here a figure for Prussian and German rule.
- line 2.3: 'w proch i w pył' = into dust and powder; 'ashes' is used for 'proch', which means dust (also gunpowder).
- line 3.4: 'Duch będzie nam hetmanił' = the Spirit will lead us as hetman, the commander of the old Polish army; the verb is made from the noun.
- line 3.5: the golden horn ('złoty róg') is the call to rise, as in Wyspiański's play The Wedding (1901).
Listen
On YouTube, from the channel Filharmonia Narodowa. Pressing play loads YouTube’s player. Watch on YouTube
People, places and events
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Rota (poem)", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rota_(poem)
- Gwiazdka Cieszyńska, 7 November 1908 (first publication)
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Rota. In Songs in History. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/rota
- MLA
- “Rota.” Songs in History, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/rota. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Rota.” Songs in History. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/rota.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Rota’, Songs in History. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/rota (Accessed: ).