I've always loved the song, it just sounds so valiant & beautiful. Wonderfully anthemic.

Nothing against Mazurek Dąbrowskiego that is our national anthem, but there's something about Rota that is so badass. It would not make a good anthem though (or the lyrics would have to be altered a little bit ). I mean that part .. ''Nie będzie niemiec pluł nam w twarz'' - ''The German won't spit in our face''.






Konopnicka's poem came into being as a protest against the German Empire's oppression and suppression of Polish culture in German-occupied western Poland — lands that from the late 18th century after the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to 1918 were under Prussian — and later, German — rule.[1] During the Prussian and German rule, German political leaders like Otto von Bismarck, Eugen von Puttkammer and thinkers lile Edwart Hartmann campaigned for policy of "ausrotten"(German for extermination) of Poles[3][4] and Rota was written as a reply to this campaign[5]. The word ausrotten was later used by Nazi Germany against Jews, and it meaning means extermination, as "ausrotten," when used in the context of living things means their complete destruction of those things through killing.[6]

Rota was first sung publicly during a patriotic demonstration in Kraków on July 15, 1910, held to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Polish-Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald. The anthem quickly became popular across partitioned Poland.[1] Until 1918, Rota served as the anthem of the Polish Scouting movement.[citation needed] The post-1926 government led by Józef Piłsudski considered several different poems for a national anthem. The political right, which saw the proposed We Are the First Brigade of the Pilsudski legion as partisan and was lackluster on Poland Is Not Yet Lost, proposed "Rota", which was associated with anti-German struggles from the late 19th century, as a national anthem.[7]


Rota (The Oath)


https://polishmusic.usc.edu/research...rota-the-oath/

Essay by Maja Trochimczyk

Rota is the youngest of the famous Polish national songs: it was created in the 20th century. The song’s text was written in 1908 by Maria Konopnicka; the music added two years later by Feliks Nowowiejski.

Konopnicka’s poem was a protest against the Prussian legislation that introduced a gradual expropriation of Polish land owners in the Prussian partition of Poland (remaining under Prussian occupation in 1795-1918).
Na to wszystkich jedne głosy:
Dosyć tej niewoli –
Mamy Racławickie kosy!
Kościuszkę Bóg pozwolił. . .

The final partition took place after the failure of the Kosciuszko Insurrection of 1794 (the Insurrection is depicted here in Juliusz Kossak’s illustration for Dabrowski Mazurka; note the peasants’ costumes and their weapons converted from farming tools, i.e. scythes).

The text expressed the sentiments of the Polish farmers in the Prussian – occupied part of Poland who were forced off their land: “We shall not leave the land of our forebears” they sang in resistance.

Rota was inspired by the events taking place in the Wielkopolska province marked by protests and acts of the peasants’ passive resistance (they were not allowed to build houses so some lived in 19th-century versions of “mobile homes”). The song was first published in the Cracow paper “Leader” (1908 – Kraków, the capital of Galicia, was in the Austrian partition where Poles enjoyed more autonomy).



The strongly anti-German poem soon became very popular throughout the country; the way to this widespread popularity was paved by its elevated role during the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (1410-1910).

In January 1910 Feliks Nowowiejski wrote the music to the Konopnicka’s poem and on July 15, when the Grunwald Monument in Kraków (capital of Galicia, Austrian partition of Poland enjoying more autonomy than the other two parts of the divided country) was unveiled, choirs from all over Poland, conducted by the composer, performed the song for the first time. For this occasion the song was entitled Grunwald; in print it appeared as Signal. It is important to note, though, that the version of Rota heard during the Grunwald celebrations is not the same as the one known today. The composer changed the melody and some chords in the accompaniments before publishing a new version, which is being used until the present time.