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Polish Anniversary: Beat Bolshevik! Polish - Russian war of August, 1920

4,252 views · Published 15 August 2011 · 3:08 · Indexed 8 November 2026

Channel: 240252 · 2011 · Music

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Marsz 1831 r. (March of the year 1831) - Franciszek Leski - tenor Opery Warszawskiej (tenor of the Warsaw Opera), Janus-Record ca 1919 (Polish) 

NOTE: Today's clip is devoted to a great Polish anniversary we are having today. 91 years have passed since the day when in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland's newly formed volunteer army (- in 0ctober 1918 Poland had regained its freedom, after 150 years of the Russian-Prussian-Austrian occupation) clashed in a deadly fight with a several hundred thousand Bolshevik army, on its march to conquer Europe. Without any help from the Westerrn countries but instead, boycotted or blocked in the supplying military transports by England, Germany and Czech Republic - Poland managed to fight and to gain victory over the enormously prevailing Russian forces.

Stalin never forgave Poland for that humilation of the Russian "superpower". 19 years later, on the 17 September 1939, as the Hitler's ally he would have taken a terrible revange in form of the Russian participation in extermination of Polish elites by Gestapo and NKVD, as well as in the Katyn forrest massacre of April 1940 and in the days of the Warsaw Uprising of  August 1944, when Red Army allowed  the struggling city to bleed to death knowing, that together with the walls of Warsaw, the most valuable patriotic part of the Polish society is evaporating. After the year 1945, however, the extermination continued in the NKVD prisons installed thoughout Poland, where all the patriotic element was slowly "eliminated" from the Polish nation. 
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As for the song: "March of the Year 1831"  is one of  the iron points of every Polish patriotic songs program. It tells the story of the Polish uprising against Tzarist Russian occupation, which was held in November 1831. It is often sung on the "patriotic social assemblies" , until today.  
The singer - Franciszek Leski (1880 - 1920) was a soloist of the Warsaw Opera and probably one of the best tenor voices Poland had in its history. Unfortunately, his too early death and only a handful of recordings he left behind does not allow us to verify such opinion.

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