General Józef Rufin Wybicki, the author of the Polish national anthem “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego”. The statue was carved by Aleksandra Sacharczuk. We are very pleased that it was in our foundry that a monument to the general was created, who lived next to us in Manieczki for over 40 years.
We know Józef Rufin Wybicki above all as the author of the national anthem. We know that he was an outstanding humanist of the Enlightenment era, a lawyer, teacher, geographer, MP, senator, poet and even a dramatic writer.
At only 20 years old, Józef Wybicki was elected an MP. As a writer, he wrote texts intended to enlighten and educate society, as a journalist and activist he supported the reform camp of Stanisław August. He had great merits for the development of education and the judiciary in Poland. His entire activity was characterized by patriotism. We can be proud of such Poles!
He was born on September 29, 1747 in Będomin near Kościerzyna as the son of Piotr and Konstancja née Liski, coat of arms Ostoja Pruska. He had seven sisters: Marianna, Brygida, Barbara, Elżbieta, Rozalia, Justyna, Konstancja (four joined the monastery), and brother Joachim, who became a priest. His family belonged to the middle-class nobility, his father was a supporter of Stanisław Leszczyński and after losing the war for Polish succession in 1734 he was briefly captured by Russia. He died when Józef was 12 years old. Earlier, in the sixth year of life, Józef was brought up to uncle Franciszek Wybicki, the Skarszewski priest and the Pomeranian archdeacon. He stayed with his uncle for two years, then in the age of eight, in 1755, he was sent to study at the Jesuit college in Stare Szkoty (then a suburb of Gdańsk), where he graduated first from poetics (1762) and then from rhetoric (1765).
The first speech of Józef Wybicki on a wider public forum took place in 1764, when the election of the last ruler of the Commonwealth, Stanisław Poniatowski, took place. The trip to election Wybicki owed to the Pomeranian voivode Paweł Mostowski associated with the Czartoryski family, who wanted to take as many Poniatowski supporters with him as possible. The stay in Warsaw made a great impression on the political people who have not had much political experience yet. He voted for Poniatowski, not realizing that his election was under pressure from Tsarina Catherine II.
Wybicki’s public activity was also closely linked to his literary output. Reaching for a pen, he took up current political issues and issues related to social life. His achievements include dramatic and poetic works. In 1783 he wrote Kulig – a moral comedy about moralizing and didactic nature; from 1791, the tragedy of Zygmunt August and the political comedy Nobleman townsman. From 1802 he wrote his memoirs entitled Moje Życie, which he did not complete. The most important work of Wybicki is the Song of Polish Legions written in 1797 in Italy (known as Dąbrowski’s Mazurka), which in time became the Polish national anthem.
He was a collaborator and friend of General Henryk Dąbrowski – together they supported the Greater Poland Uprising, later moving to emigration for the Polish Legions in Italy, which were founded in 1797 also on the initiative of Wybicki. At that time, he also composed the national anthem, namely “Mazurek Dąbrowski”. Dąbrowski’s Mazurka is a special song for every Pole. From the time of the uprising in the Italian town of Reggio’nell Emilia, he has been with us to this day in the most important moments.
Józef Rufin Wybicki was a participant in the Napoleonic wars. The year 1807 was the time of establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw, in which he had his active contribution, being later a leading politician of the state. He organized the defense of Greater Poland against the Austrian army in 1809. Later he made efforts to create the Kingdom of Poland, which emerged after the Congress of Vienna.
In the years 1817-1820 he was the president of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Poland, and earlier a senator – a voivode. In 1807 he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of the Legion of Honor. He was the author of literary works and political magazines. His immortal merit is “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego”. He died on March 10, 1822 in Manieczki.