The Polish parliament proclaimed the year 2022 as the Year of Polish Romanticism. To justify this choice, it was indicated that 2022 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of “Ballads and romances” – a collection of ballads written by the outstanding Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz and first published in Vilnius, marking the beginning of Polish Romanticism. Nevertheless, this epoch was grievous as Poland suffered from the occupation of Russia, Austria and Prussia. “At that time, in the situation of national servitude, Polish brilliant artists, thinkers and political activists created a country of spiritual freedom, developed independence programs, and at the same time elevated Polish literature, music and painting to the rank of leading achievements of European culture” – says the parliamentary resolution.

In 1820, Adam Mickiewicz wrote a poem titled “Ode to youth” which is often referred to as the manifesto of Romanticism. In 1833 in France, a publication “L’Exilé de la Pologne, recueil de Contes et de Morceaux littéraires originaux et traduits du polonais. Première partie” was issued with a translation of that poem. The place of publication was not accidental as France was the refuge chosen by many Poles, who had to leave their motherland after the bloody suppression of the November Uprising of 1830 by the Russians. Interestingly, the translator of Ode – Stanisław (Sinai) Hernisz added his own annotation with the last words of the poem “Hail, dawn of liberty, behind thee is the redeeming sun!” and confirmed that that message was spoken in every Polish home during the aforementioned uprising,

The translator of the Ode, a Polish Jew Stanisław Hernisz, was an extremely interesting figure. He was born in 1805 in Warsaw as the son of a merchant Gustaw Hernisz. Before the outbreak of the November Uprising, he attended the recently established Rabbinical School in Warsaw. Immediately after the outbreak of the uprising, he made a petition to the dictator of the uprising, Józef Chłopicki, in which he proposed establishing a regiment consisting of Jews only. To encourage others to participate in the fights, he composed a “Patriotic Song” sung to the music of Fryderyk Chopin. During the uprising, he fought with the rank of lieutenant in the 1st Masuria Regiment. For his bravery, he was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari. After the collapse of the uprising, Hernisz emigrated to France, where he was completing his medical studies. After a few years, he enlisted in the American diplomatic mission. Working as an American diplomat in China, he used his experiences in that country to publish in 1854 in Boston, “A Guide to Conversation in the English and Chinese Languages for the Use of Americans and Chinese in California and Elsewhere”.  He died in London on April 20, 1866.