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-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 have left 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 2 decades ago, Poland was falling apart. The country was $30 billion in debt to international lenders. The air was unbreathable -- 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 That's been replaced by something better and infectious: a cautious optimism that maybe this time around the better times are here to stay.
