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 In
many ways, Poland is one of the success stories of the new Europe,
transforming itself from a one-party state to a parliamentary democracy
in a remarkably short period of time. More than a decade of non-communist
governments has wrought profound changes on the country, unleashing
entrepreneurial energies and widening cultural horizons in a way that
pre-1989 generations would have scarcely thought possible. Gleaming
corporate skyscrapers have taken root in Warsaw, and private shops and
cafés have established themselves in even the most provincial of rural
towns. The country has a radically different look about it, having
exchanged the greyish tinge of a state-regulated society for the
anything-goes attitude of private enterprise - and all the billboards
and window displays that go with it.
However at the heart of modern Poland lies an all-too-familiar paradox:
the very people who made the country's democratic revolution possible -
militant industrial workers and anticommunist intellectuals - have found
themselves marginalized in a society in which street-smart businessmen
and computer-literate youth are far better poised to take advantage of
the brave new Poland's burgeoning opportunities.
All this may come as a shock to those who recall the Poland of the
1980s, when images of industrial unrest and anticommunist protest were
beamed around the world. Strikes at the Lenin shipyards of Gdansk and
other industrial centres were the harbingers of the disintegration of
communism in Eastern Europe, and, throughout the years of martial law
and beyond, Poland retained a near-mythical status among outside
observers as the country that had done most to retain its dignity in the
face of communist oppression.
For many Poles, the most important events in the movement towards a
post-communist society were the visits in 1979 and 1983 of Pope John
Paul II , the former archbishop of Kraków. To the outside world this may
have been surprising, but Poland was never a typical communist state:
Stalin's verdict was that imposing communism on Poland was like trying
to saddle a cow. Polish society in the postwar decades remained
fundamentally traditional, maintaining beliefs, peasant life and a sense
of nationhood to which the Catholic Church was integral. During periods
of foreign oppression - oppression so severe that Poland as a political
entity has sometimes vanished altogether from the maps of Europe - the
Church was always the principal defender of the nation's identity, so
that the Catholic faith and the struggle for independence have become
fused in the Polish consciousness. The physical presence of the Church
is inescapable - in Baroque buildings, roadside shrines and images of
the national icon, the Black Madonna of Czestochowa - and the
determination to preserve the memories of an often traumatic past finds
expression in religious rituals that can both attract and repel
onlookers.
World War II and its aftermath profoundly influenced the character of
Poland: the country suffered at the hands of the Nazis as no other in
Europe, losing nearly twenty percent of its population and virtually its
entire Jewish community. In 1945 the Soviet -dominated nation was once
again given new borders, losing its eastern lands to the USSR and
gaining tracts of formerly German territory in the west. The resulting
make-up of the population is far more uniformly "Polish" than at any
time in the past, in terms of both language and religion, though there
are still ethnic minorities of Belarusians, Germans, Lithuanians,
Slovaks, Ukrainians and even Muslim Tatars.
To a great extent, the sense of social fluidity, of a country still in
the throes of major transitions, remains a primary source of Poland's
fascination. A decisive attempt to break with the communist past as well
as tenacious adherence to the path of radical market economic reforms
adopted in the late 1980s have remained the guiding tenets of Poland's
new political leadership - a course seemingly unaltered by the changing
political complexion of successive governments. Few would question the
economic and human toll reaped by Poland's attempt to reach the El
Dorado of capitalist prosperity - not least among the most vulnerable
sectors of society: public sector employees, farmers, pensioners and the
semi- or unemployed. Despite this, the Polish people, as so often before,
continue to demonstrate what to the visitor may appear an extraordinary
resilience and patience. Hope springs eternal in the minds of Poles, it
seems, and for all the hardships involved in establishing a new economic
order - an order to which the majority of Poles retain a remarkable, if
grumbling, political commitment - individual and collective initiative
and enterprise of every conceivable kind is flourishing as almost
nowhere else in the region.
Symbolizing a transformed geopolitical landscape, the new millennium
finds Poland a member of NATO , the US-led military alliance of which it
was - officially at least - a sworn enemy only ten years previously.
Perhaps even more significantly, Poland, along with neighbours the Czech
Republic and Hungary, is now decisively engaged in EU membership
negotiations, a move that if - or more accurately, when - it actually
happens promises to transform the country more profoundly than anything
since the advent of communism.
Tourism is proving no exception to Poland's general "all change" rule,
but despite the continuing state of flux in the country's tourist
infrastructure, it is now easier to explore the country than anyone
could have imagined only a few years back. This sea change is reflected
in continuing and significant increases in the numbers of people
visiting the country.
Encounters with the people are at the core of any experience of the
country. On trains and buses, on the streets or in the village bar,
you'll never be stuck for opportunities for contact: Polish hospitality
is legendary, and there's a natural progression from a chance meeting to
an introduction to the extended family. Even the most casual visitor
might be served a prodigious meal at any hour of the day, usually with a
bottle or two of local vodka brought out from the freezer.
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