'Bij bolszewika!': An anti-communist song sung by the Polish resistance after WWII

@ElentirENG ES 4·10·2021 · 23:37 0

The Polish resistance was a very prolific movement in song, both in its fight against nazism and in its subsequent fight against communism.

The forgotten resistance: they fought against the nazis and then against the communists
Katyn: the gross lies and communist denial of the massacre of 22,000 Poles

Polish resistance: first against the Germans and then against the Soviets

As you know, in September 1939 Germany and the USSR invaded Poland, dividing the country as agreed in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Despite their defeat and the occupation of their country, many Poles continued the struggle with various resistance movements. The main one, the Armia Krajowa (AK, National Army), created in 1942, focused its fight against the Germans, and at the end of the war many of its members formed a new organization, Wolność i Niezawisłość (WiN, Freedom and Independence ), to continue the fight against the new occupants of the country, the Soviets, who imposed a communist dictatorship in Poland with their backs to the people.

The Wołkowysk Land Self-Defense

The Polish anti-communist resistance was active until 1963, and not only in the current territory of Poland, but also in the areas of the country that were annexed to the USSR. One such area was the province of Grodno, in present-day Belarus, where a large Polish community still resides. There, in the city of Wołkowysk, former members of the AK formed the Samoobrony Ziemi Wołkowyskiej (SZW, Wołkowysk Land Self-Defense), founded by the chaplain of the Polish Army and the AK Antoni Bańkowski "Eliasz", parish priest of Krzemienica, and which counted on 200 combatants distributed in three partisan units, denominated "Cietrzewia", "Kwiata" and "Gołębia". The SZW was crushed by the Soviet NKVD in the summer of 1948, although some of its members continued the fight until the 1950s.

Bij bolszewika!

At the SZW they sang a song by an unknown author entitled "Bij bolszewika!" (Beat the Bolshevik), the lyrics of which recounted the atrocities committed by the Communists against the Poles, including the Katyn massacre. You can listen it in this video that includes subtitles in English (press the button to activate them in the lower bar of the video):

On the website of the Fundacja Pamiętamy they publish these lyrics of the song in Polish:

Bij bolszewika w każdej go postaci,
bo to jest twój największy dzisiaj wróg.
To przecież on kościami twoich braci,
brukował sieć swych niezliczonych dróg
To przecież on na Sybir gnał twe dzieci,
a z jęków ich wesołą składał pieśń.
To przecież on dziś naszych ojców gnieci,
i każe im komuny jarzmo nieść.

To przecież on w katyńskim ciemnym lesie
wbił w polską pierś znienacka ostry nóż,
mordując tam najlepszych polskich synów
jak podły zbir, nikczemny zdrajca, tchórz.
To przecież on jak bóstwo czci Stalina
kapłanom twym nie szczędząc srogich mąk.
To przecież on z kościołów zrobił kina
i depcze krzyż, czerwoną gwiazdę czcząc.

To przecież on nie wierzyć w Boga zmusza
tumaniąc nas potęgą krasnych szmat,
by człowieczeństwo w sercu twoim zgasło,
byś ty nie wiedział, co to znaczy brat.
To przecież on zrabował twoje mienie
i krew serdeczną sączy z naszych ran.
On przecież psa niż ciebie więcej ceni
boś Polak jest – więc [wróg i polski] pan.

To przecież on braterstwa głosząc hasła
do więzień pcha młodzieży naszej kwiat.
by człowieczeństwo w sercu twoim zgasło,
byś ty nie wiedział, co to znaczy brat.
Zasłonę więc zrzuć z oczu miły bracie,
Niech zagrzmi znów praojców złoty róg.
Bij bolszewika w każdej go postaci
bo to jest twój największy dzisiaj wróg.

You can read the translation of the English translation here:

Beat the communist, in his every form
because today he is your biggest enemy!
It was him, who, with your brothers' bones
paved the chain of his endless roads!
It was him, who kidnapped your children to Siberia
and made a funny song from their cries.
It is him, who tars the name of our fathers
and puts on them the communist yoke.

It was him, who in the dark Katyn forest
vilely stuck a knife in the polish chest,
murdering there the best of poland's sons
like an evil thug, vicious traitor, coward.
It was him, who worshipped Stalin like a deity
and spared no pain for your own priests.
It was him, who made cinemas from churches
and treads the cross, adoring a red star.

It is him, who forces not to believe
besotting us with the might of some red rags,
to kill any humanity within your heart,
to made you unaware of what does "brother" mean.
It was him, who plundered your wealth
and sucks the blood from our wounds.
It is him, who values a dog more than you
because you're a Pole, so villain and a propertied man.

It is him, who, preaching about fraternity
locks in jail the best of our youth,
to kill any humanity within your heart,
to made you unaware of what does "brother" mean.
So take the veil off of your eyes, dear brother
May the horn of our forefothers sound again.
Beat the communist, in his every form,
because he is your biggest enemy today.

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Main photo: "Cursed Soldiers" of the WiN Zapory Grouping in the summer of 1946.