Siekiera, motyka

[1] The song was inspired by an old humorous folk-tune performed already in 1917 with different and constantly changing lyrics, adapted for the army in a 1938 publication under a different title.

[2] The wartime lyrics of the song were created around August 1942 in Warsaw,[2] by a member of ZWZ Anna Jachnina, young wife of an army captain from before the invasion.

[1] In 1943 it was published in print by the Polish resistance underground presses, in the Posłuchajcie ludzie... [Listen, folks], book, one of the bibuła publications of Propaganda Commission (Komisja Propagandy) of Armia Krajowa (Home Army).

Siekiera, motyka would remain the most popular patriotic, occupation period street song of occupied Poland.

A notable theme of the song, particularly strong in some variants, was the description of German practice of łapanka, the street round-ups of random passers-by.