Poland's transformation since the fall of Communism in 1989 has been nothing short of phenomenal. What was until not long ago a downtrodden, debt-ridden, basket case of a country has turned itself around 180 degrees. Today, Poland is a proud member of the European Union and NATO. Its currency is stable, and its economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe. You'll see gleaming new office towers on the ever-changing Warsaw skyline. And throughout the country, you'll see evidence of an emerging prosperity that was unthinkable 10 to 15 years ago.
To be sure, alongside this newly emerging wealth, you'll run across many still very depressed areas -- particularly in industrial cities like Lódz and in large parts of Warsaw itself. You'll also see greater numbers than you might expect of homeless people, public drunks, beggars, and simply those who have fallen through the cracks. Not everyone has benefited equally from the country's rapid transformation to a democratic political system and a free-market economy. Industrial workers, particularly those over the age of 50 for whom adapting to the changes proved more difficult, have been hardest hit. Young people, too, have found it difficult to cope with ever-rising living costs on very low wages. Many are now leaving the country for places like the U.K. and Ireland, where they can earn more tending bar than they can working as young professionals at home.
But it's important to put this into some perspective. Just a little more than a decade and a half ago, Poland was falling apart. The country was $30 billion in debt to international lenders. The air was unbreatheable -- particularly in Kraków, downwind from the enormous steel mill complex at Nowa Huta. It wasn't unusual for Poles to spend hours standing in line simply to buy a piece of fruit or a bottle of imported shampoo. And membership in the European Union was unthinkable. Worst of all perhaps was the feeling of utter hopelessness, as if it were somehow Poland's fate to end up on the wrong side of history every time. That's been replaced by something better and infectious: a cautious optimism that maybe this time around the better times are here to stay.
People & Culture -- Poles are typically highly educated and highly cultured, with a firm grasp of their country's long and rich tradition in literature, poetry, performing arts, and film. The strong role of culture in everyday life is not surprising given the country's tragic history. For the 125 years, until 1918, that Poland ceased to exist as a country, it was quite literally a shared culture that held the people together. In modern times, it was this common cultural heritage that helped people to weather the Nazi and Soviet occupations, and to endure 40 years of Communist rule after World War II. Don't be surprised if your Polish hosts ask you if you've ever heard of this or that Polish romantic poet or postwar film director. And don't be surprised if they appear disappointed if you can't immediately come up with some insightful comment. Part of this disappointment is the feeling that if Polish history hadn't been so brutal, many of these writers and intellectuals would be as well known today as their counterparts in western Europe.
You'll sense too a strong feeling of national pride. Poles are proud of their history. They're proud of their resistance, however futile, to the Nazi invasion in 1939, and of the tragic Warsaw uprising in 1944. And they're proud of their country's leading role in ending Communism in the 1980s. And today this pride extends to Poland's membership in the European Union. Poland was the largest of the new countries to enter the E.U. in 2004, and Poland has effectively used its size to carve out an influential role for itself in Brussels.
Americans are likely to feel particularly welcome. Poland's ties to the United States go back all the way to Tadeusz Kosciuszko and the Revolutionary War. Today, Poles proudly cite Chicago as the second-biggest Polish city in the world after Warsaw (even though these days more young Poles are emigrating to Ireland and the U.K. than to the U.S.). Just about everyone has a cousin, uncle, or grandparent who lives or used to live in one of the 50 states.
