Tajemnice wokół Dąbrowskiego

Secrets about Dabrowski


While I was preparing some materials for the webside about the monument dedicated to the memory of General Dąbrowski (the patron of our historic club “Arme de Italir Legie Polone’), among some historical materials, I came across a map with the village Pierzchowiec, the village in which the General was born. My astonishment was immense to learn that this village is on the map of Poland, initially I thought that Pierzchowiec lies in what is now Ukraine, so that’s why it is not on the Polish map. Writing the history of General , I included this map for Poles to know the village when the General Dąbrowski was born. It is in Poland but the name of it now is Pierzchów. To get there you should follow the route Kraków-Tarnów.

It's very interesting why the village is not called as before, would it be an accident?
Next time, when I visit Krakow, for sure I will ask the Małopolski Voivode (a governor of Małopolska voivodeship) why this important village for all Poles has been forgotten.
I believe that promotion of this place could be very beneficial for the municipality and the county. After all, many, if not most of the tour visitors in Wieliczka and Krakow, could visit the birthplace of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. Jan Henryk is a hero of our national anthem, this song is often sung spontaneously and could be recognized as “a hit…” and “ # 1” If we count it statistically, this song was sung the most often eg. under occupation, during some ceremonies, football games and other occasions. I, myself, witnessed how the performance of Italian Legion influenced the audience which started to sing our national anthem in Schengen, Jelcz, Nysa, and other places. I personally also sang it spontaneously when I was in the cell in 1981 for the distribution of leaflets, just before the next hearing by SB (SB=Słuzba Bezpieczeństwa, former secret internal Polish police). I needed some encouragement and that’s why I sang this Polish anthem...

For now, the only person who promotes this place (of course besides our historic club) is a young girl who lives in a house which was built in the garden of the Dabrowskis manor. She also set up a website. For sure we will help her in the promotion and development of the tourist trail to Pierzchowiec to maintain the memories of these days and to be able to visit the place where young Dabrowski played. Being in Pierzchowiec I use the correct name of the birthplace of General Dabrowski in 1755. I learned that the remaining foundations of the manor farm buildings were selected and the stones were re-used to build a new house in 2005. It is a “farming approach”, but all traces of our great General are the property of all Poles and they can not be in any way economically used.
Unfortunately due to the late hours of my visit, I did not visit the whole village, I'll be probably in Pierzchowiec many times with the Italian Legion, we will fire many honor salvos for the General.


Here's a cottage still standing in Pierzchowiec which has traces of the reconstruction; timber framing can be found under the plaster, which indicates that it was built in the late eighteenth century. Or maybe there are still some buildings in the area which remember the times of the General’s youth and a museum can be created in Pierzchowiec. I must really praise the citizens of Pierzchowiec, they really care about this sacred place for Poles. It was a great surprise for me. Going there, I thought it would be worse. I expected that if someone wanted to change the name of the village also the monument could somehow disappear. It turned out that the monument has remained and the whole area of the monument ( a mound of memorial flagpole flagship ,alleys) is well maintained.


We put a bunch of dandelion for the General, such a military bunch and then entered the mound Dabrowski. We walked down the sidewalk to the top of the pedestal where there are marble tables with a text of the Polish anthem “ Poland has not yet died as we are alive 1797-1997”.


From here you can admire the magnificent sunset, probably the same which young Jan Henryk saw when he was running around barefoot in the meadow with his favorite horse. Jan Henryk must have harbored such Poland in memory for life. For this Poland he decided many years later to fight and give up the comfortable life he was offered by the King of Prussia Frederick II, who offered him a position of a general in the Prussian army. Is such a view of the sunset in Pierzchowiec enough to give up wealth and decide on the fate of the immigrant?

Captain Italian Legion
Marek Szczerski
Translation
Magda Maliszewska