Last night I had the first of what I hope to be many conversations with Older_Rah as he grows up. You may or may not know this, but I am primarily a historian and so when yesterday I caught Older_Rah singing the Polish national anthem...
I gave him a slap and told him to learn the English one! - no I am just kidding of course.
Forgive my rather lame attempt at humour; the fact is that I was so full of pride for him and I then sat with him and briefly - in the way that a five year old - would understand explained to him what it meant.
He only knows a few lines...
March, march, Dąbrowski,
From the Italian land to Poland.
Under your command,
We shall rejoin the nation.
It heralds back to when Napoleon Bonaparte dominated Europe. Dąbrowski was a Polish general and national hero, best known as the founder of the Polish Legions in Italy that fought alongside Napoleon.
Dąbrowski devoted much of his life to the cause of restoring an independent Poland after the country had been partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria and disappeared from the map. However, as a boon during his conquest of Europe, Napoleon did allow for the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw (which was larger than you might think - stretching all the way down to Krakow), which in turn gave hope for the rebirth of the Polish nation.
A dream that came into being in the aftermath of the First World War, when American President Woodrow Wilson's principle of national self-determination (not evenly applied by the way) saw the Poles re-establish their nation after some 120 years. Admittedly, the borders of that reborn nation only lasted until 1939, but what emerged in 1945 was a more homogeneous Poland that had shifted westwards - although it would be another 44 years before Poland was truly free.
I obviously didn't go into such depth with him; he is only five and a half (exactly yesterday!), but as I wrote earlier it does mark what I hope to be the first of many such conversations as he grows and matures.
I am so very proud of him!
As always stay safe and well my friends.
