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A Penny For The Guy?

If any of you out there are interested in receiving blog updates directly by email then simply click here. The wonderful people at Google’s Feedburner have made it possible for blogs to be disseminated automatically by email. In other words, all you have to do is click on the link above and you’ll get my posts delivered directly and automatically to your inbox. Fantastic, eh?

In the meantime, have a great Bonfire Night, enjoy your baked potatoes, toffee apples and bonfire toffee, and be careful with those sparklers.

Raf

Polling the Poles

Tusk Following Those Polls

The joke begins: “What do Poles and polls have in common?” The answer is, of course, “they are both unreliable”. While the first idea (Poles) is far from the truth, there is no doubting the second (polls). Moreover, put the two together – Polish polls – and we are left with one of the most unreliable weapons in today’s political arsenal in Poland. One needs to simply spend a few moments looking at the opinion polls conducted in Poland, and their results, to realise how bizarre they really are. What is more, these results, however skewed or odd they might appear to be, do not seem to stop politicians, and political commentators and journalists alike, from following them on a daily basis. Poland really is the Land of the Polls.

Kaczyński Can't Believe the Graphs

Following the recent ‘gamble-gate’ scandal which saw PM Tusk dismiss several members of his government together with the head of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), PiS-oriented Mariusz Kamiński, opinion polls have been all over the place and, at best, contradictory. Some polls suggest an erosion of support for Tusk and Civic Platform (PO), others find Tusk gaining even more ground on Lech Kaczyński and Law and Justice (PiS). All in all, Polish opinion polls, rather than clarify the attitudes of Poles, seem to confuse, confound and obscure what the masses think.

Olejniczak & Napieralski Hoping for Better Charts

In recent times, opinion polls seem to have begun exerting a huge influence on political spin doctors who in turn have an increasing say in creating the images and policies of leading politicians and parties in Poland. But can these opinion polls be trusted? Looking at the research we can see a wild array of statistics:

PO 39%, PiS 18%, SLD 9%, PSL 7%
Wirtualna Polska – Gemius (6 Oct 2009)

PO 48%, PiS 28%, SLD 10%, PSL 6%
Gazeta Wyborcza – PBS DGA (4 Oct 2009)

Taking a look at what has been going on in the past six months we see that either the institutions that undertake the research for these opinion polls are making some heinous mistakes in their calculations or Polish people are fickle in their political alleigances. One way or another, polls simply cannot be trusted.

Victims of Their Own Making

The Victim Complex

For a number of years now there has been a growing trend within right-wing Polish politics which is particularly perplexing. Right-wing politics is often equated with patriotic and nationalist sentiments, glorifying past (and present) achievements as well as demonstrating the greatness of one’s nation. However, attitudes within right-wing (and liberal) circles in Poland seem to be advocating a different approach. This approach reached its apex when Law and Justice (PiS) came to power in 2005.

The Christ Nation

Together with the far-right League of Polish Families (LPR) and populist Self-Defence (Samoobrona), this approach became entrenched and particularly visible in Polish foreign policy during the PiS years. Polish politics (heavily influenced by the Catholic church at the time) embraced an almost ‘Christic’ and/or ‘martyrological’ approach to their own history. Poland was seen by these politicians to be both the saviour and martyr of Europe, the ‘Christ’ of European nations.

The German Invasion

When arguing for Poland’s God-given right to have more votes in the EU’s then new system of voting, one of the Kaczyński brothers said that had it not been for World War II, Poland’s population would be greater and so they deserve more votes in the EU. This attitude continued throughout their term in office and continues today. Certain politicians feel Poland ‘deserves’ more because it suffered so much. This attitude of Poland being the ‘eternal victim’ is extremely dangerous for a number of reasons.

The Destruction of Self

Firstly, with it comes a large whiff of misplaced arrogance which, to the outside world, is particularly irritating when the only arguments that can be heard coming from the Polish camp are that Poland deserves more because it had to live though both Nazism and Communism. Secondly, when such a victim complex becomes entrenched its proponents begin to genuinely believe it. So much so that extolling the virtues of being a victim turns into a form of flagellation or even historical and political self-mutilation.

The New History

Recently, there has been much talk about historical revisionism. Russia particularly has been found guilty of practising the re-writing of history. However, is Poland’s victim status also a form of revisionism? Believing that Poland is forever Europe’s martyr is useful as it absolves the nation of crimes previously committed, such as Jedwabne or Operation Wisła. How can the victim have ever been the tormentor?

If Only…

Another Time, Another Warsaw

… the Second World War would have never taken place. What would have happened? What would Poland be like now? I came across an interesting article by Piotr Gursztyn in Dziennik who probably fancies himself as a writer of alternate history. In it, he paints an interesting picture of a Poland untouched by war but ravaged by a host of other problems. The post below is based loosely on this article. The year is 2009. To the left of Poland we find the German Third Reich, to the right of Poland we find the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Europe is not a happy place, constant bickering, skirmishes and trans-border terrorism is the norm.

Złoczów, Eastern Poland

Chamberlain’s words “peace in our time” could not be further from the truth. Thankfully, the 1930s and 40s passed without incident, although Germany managed to take most of Czechia as well as Danzig. The USSR put pressure on Poland to relinquish its eastern territories to the Ukrainian SSR but their territorial demands were not met, although Poland was forced into a more conciliatory stance regarding the Kresy turning itself into a federative republic and the Lwów, Stanisławów and Tarnopol Provinces into Autonomous Provinces (together with the already Autonomous Province of Silesia).

Kaunas, Capital of Lithuania

Poland’s third largest city is Lwów, its sixth largest city is Wilno. The Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów is Poland’s most prestigious university pushing the University of  Warsaw and the Jagiellonian University of Kraków into second and third place respectively. Poland’s holiday-makers keep away from the Baltic Coast and the gigantic port in sprawling Gdynia. Poles prefer to travel to the Wilno Lakes (the Mazurian Lakelands are in Germany) or to the wildlands of Czarnohora near the Romanian border.

Stettin, Foreign City

International scholars flock to Warsaw, Lwów and Wilno for conferences in mathematics, logic and philosophy which Poland excels in, as well as to make use of the wonderful libraries, archives and academic know-how housed in these three centres of excellence. Poland is one of Europe’s largest countries with a population of 61 million, however, it is a country divided, with little love lost between Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Germans. Poland is a state where only 60% of the population is Polish.

Königsberg, Prussian Capital

Foreign politicians and commentators speak of a ‘powerful Poland’ and ‘Polish pride’, ‘Polish strength’ and ‘Polish power’ yet they also talk of ‘Polish arrogance’, ‘Polish regional hegemony’ and the ‘Polish patchwork’. Patchwork? Poland is a country marked by huge differences. East and west are economically worlds apart. Poland’s successive nationalist governments have done little to help incorporate the minorities. Jews, Ukrainians and Belarusians belong to very different social groups. Poland forever seems to be on the verge of social collapse. The Ukrainian terrorism of the 1950s has subsided, the anti-Jewish violence of the 1960s has stopped but without a long-term vision, the future for Poland does not look bright.

When East Becomes West

The Heart of Europe

Are we witnessing a gradual westward cultural shift in Europe? Are we facing a post-modern crisis where identities increasingly overlap and blur? Is the definition of Western Europe the same now as it was in 1945?

Mitteleuropa Revisited
An even trickier question is what (or where) is Central Europe? The geographical centre of Europe (not the European Union) is laid claim to by at least five towns, all of which lie in what is conventionally not thought of as Western Europe, but rather Eastern Europe. These towns are: Purnuškės, Lithuania; Polotsk, Belarus; Suchowola, Poland; Rakhiv, Ukraine; and Krahule, Slovakia. Interestingly, these places form an area partly overlapping Poland’s semi-mythical Kresy (more info here). If this is the case then our definitions of Central Europe need to be redefined. Central Europe is Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, and perhaps also Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. To the west of this area, Western Europe begins: Germany, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. However, as we are all aware, calling Serbia a part of Western Europe is odd. There is more to west and east than points on a compass.

Neither East Nor West

Europe Redefined
The chief problem with defining what is central, east and west is our notions of these terms and the connotations they all carry. Most people think of Western Europe as the UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Spain and Italy. But what about Greece? What of Finland? Most of the territory of Poland, all of the Czech Republic, and the afore-mentioned Serbia lie in Europe’s western half yet most Europeans would not call them ‘western’.

Culture Remade
Most recently, communism helped delimit Europe into two halves but with communism gone it can be argued that Europe has shifted west. Russians often claim Poles are westernised traitors to the Slav cause. Poles and Slovaks believe Czechs are no more than Germans speaking a Slavonic language. Perspective is key to our interpretation of east and west. We cannot deny the fact that ‘western’ culture (whatever that means) has permeated the new EU states. Popular urban culture is something familiar to people both in Warsaw and Walsall; you can get a Starbucks in Bucharest and Buckingham, a Big Mac in Bratislava and Bradford and a Burger King Whopper in Burgas and Burnley. The so-called ‘eastern’ countries have increasingly more in common with the ‘western’ ones to such an extent that any discussion of Eastern and Western Europe is little more than academic. So where is this mythical West?

Black Madonna

Faith & Family

Many thanks to my good pal Jim for giving me the heads up about this text. It’s a great piece about the life of the post-war Polonia, that is the Polish people who came to the United Kingdom after World War II (as part of the UK Polish Repatriation Act) as opposed to those Polish people who have come to the UK post-EU accession. I’m ‘posting’ the text in full (copyright The Guardian 2009):

As a child growing up in Derby in the 60s I spoke Polish beautifully, thanks to my grandmother. While my mother went out to work, my grandmother, who spoke no English, looked after me, teaching me to speak her native tongue. Babcia, as we called her, dressed in black with stout brown shoes, wore her grey hair in a bun, and carried a walking stick. She was the hub of our household – she could cook Polish delicacies, play Chopin on the piano and make paper storks. I adored her.

My father, Jerzy, had escaped from Poland after the Germans invaded, travelling on foot across Europe to England, where he became a pilot in the RAF. At the end of the war, he met my English mother at a dance organised by my maternal grandfather to help lonely young Polish pilots. In 1957, he arranged for my grandmother, Maria, who was living in a tiny flat in Warsaw in increasing distress under the privations of communism, to come to the UK.

Like other Polish families in the area, we spent our weekends in the vast Polish club that kept our community’s culture alive. My father helped to establish Dom Polski (Polish House) in the 1950s and it was known as the air force club because the founders were pilots. It provided a focus for all those old comrades and their history. I remember one woman at the club who had a concentration camp number tattooed on her arm, and another whose husband and daughter got off the train transporting them to Siberia to buy bread, only for the train to leave without them. She never saw them again. There were people who had been taken east through Russia as slave labour, others who were taken west to provide a workforce for German farms and factories.

The walls of the club were covered with black-and-white photos of Polish pilots, and a huge propeller from a Spitfire was fixed to one wall. On Saturday mornings my sisters and I would study Polish at the school it ran, and on Saturday nights, my parents would go dancing. On Sundays, we played tombola there over lunch.

But my love affair with Polish culture began to fade when I was five – the year Babcia died. We had been so close that when she was dying, her last words were to ask that I should be looked after. I couldn’t believe she was dead, and went from being confident and cocky to a very quiet child.

Without Babcia’s childcare, my mother had to give up her full-time job and take part-time work in a school across the road. I was placed in the reception class and, accustomed to being at home alone with Babcia, I hated it. I don’t remember making a conscious decision, but in shock I refused to speak Polish until I saw Babcia again.

My sisters and I continued to go to Polish school, but the language would not return. Despite the efforts of my father, even a family trip to Poland in 1965 could not bring it back. When six years later my father died too, at just 53, our Polish connection almost ceased to exist. I left Derby and went to university in London. I never spoke Polish, never ate Polish food nor visited Poland. My childhood was gone and almost forgotten.

Then in 2004, more than 30 years later, things changed again. A new wave of Polish immigrants had arrived and I began to hear the language of my childhood all around me – every time I got on a bus. I saw Polish news-papers in the capital and Polish food for sale in the shops. The language sounded so familiar yet somehow distant – as if it were something I tried to grab but was always out of reach.

In Derby, Dom Polski had closed down. The building was decaying and up for rent; the old soldiers and air force men were almost all dead, and the second and third generations too busy to worry about it. But my memory had been jogged. I began to write a novel about a fictional Polish family and, at the same time, decided to enrol at a Polish language school.

Each week I went through half-remembered phrases, getting bogged down in the intricate grammar and impossible inflections. When my book was published, it put me back in touch with schoolfriends who like me were second-generation Polish. And strangely, in my language classes, I still had my accent and I found words and phrases would sometimes come unbidden, long lost speech patterns making a sudden reappearance. I had found my childhood again.

Joanna Czechowska

Her book, The Black Madonna of Derby (or Goodbye Polsko) is published by Silkmill Press.

It Was 20 Years Ago Today

Who is "Solidman"?

Twenty years ago on June 4th 1989, the spark that ignited the fire signalling the fall of communism was lit. The first partially free democratic elections in the communist bloc were held in Poland and with it,  communism in Europe witnessed the beginning of the end.

This is the End
This unprecedented event and the euphoria that went with it for everyone was encapsulated by the words of newscaster Joanna Szczepkowska who, on the spur of the moment, decided to declare that, “on June 4th 1989, communism in Poland came to an end”:

This is the Beginning
As we all know, the elections ended with a resounding victory for Solidarity which then decided to install Tadeusz Mazowiecki as the new Prime Minister of Poland who in his first speech talked about the need to create a Poland “without divisions”:

This is Solidarity
There were divisions, of course, but the 4th June 1989 has come to symbolise a moment where, despite the high probability of failure, Poland’s regular citizens, not the political elites, were able to come together and force through democracy, freedom and the truth. Real solidarity, that is truly working together, was shown for the whole world to see on this day twenty years ago. In the words of the Great Moustached One: “Solidarity is nothing more than this: if you are unable to lift up a heavy weight then find someone who can help you lift it”. Simple but effective.

Capital of Hope or Despair?

Expensive Dump?

As much as I dislike the methodologies put to use in most polls and surveys nowadays, one can’t help wondering if there’s any truth behind them at all. This is especially true of the latest survey which seeks to assess the quality of living in various cities throughout the world. I took a good look at the whole list and was horrified to learn that Warsaw is 85th out of a possible 215 (with Bahgdad being last). Our Eastern European neighbours also did poorly – Ljubljana came 78th, Bratislava was 88th whereas Zagreb was 103rd. What does this say about Eastern Europe? What does this say about Warsaw? Mercer, who conducted the survey, seems to think the living standards in Eastern Europe have gone up but this survey will do little to advertise our little corner of Europe.

Reasons to Despair
Mercer looks at 39 factors when they ranked the cities. These roughly form ten categories. Namely:

1. Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement)
2. Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services)
3. Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom)
4. Health and sanitation (medical services, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution)
5. Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools)
6. Public services and transport (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion)
7. Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure)
8. Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars)
9. Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services)
10. Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters)

Points to Consider
It’s pretty easy to see what Warsaw is doing wrong and what the city authorities might do in the future to improve the living standards of its inhabitants. Most denizens of Warsaw will agree that points 4, 5, 6, 7 need to be addressed sooner than later. The number of hospitals and clinics of a high standard is far too low for a member of the European Union. Parents are having increasingly more problems with finding adequate kindergartens for their children in the capital. Much to the chagrin of Warsaw’s authorities, the metro is laughable. An underground with one line and a handful of stops is most certainly not sufficient for a city the size of Warsaw. Finally, Poland’s capital may seem to have a rich assortment of cultural events but these are miniscule compared with cities like Prague, Vienna or Berlin.

Things to Do
What is most important is the fact that Varsovians, Warsawites, call them what you will, can have a big say in how Warsaw will look in the future. Even though I’ve only lived in this city for a few years I’ve been visiting Warsaw since I was a child. This city is completely different to the one I remember as a young lad. First of all, there was nothing to do in Warsaw a few decades ago. The city was a mass of grey and dirty blocks of flats. Now, at least, a whole palette of different colours has splashed onto the cityscape; cinemas, restaurants and bars fill the streets and there are more smiling faces around. All it takes is for people to care. Communism meant that nobody gave a damn. Now, people want to put flowers in their balconies and keep the streets tidy. It may not be much, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Top Ten Cities
For those of you who are interested, the top ten cities in the world with regard to living standards are:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Vancouver, Canada
5. Auckland, New Zealand
6. Dusseldorf, Germany
7. Munich, Germany
8. Frankfurt, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Sydney, Australia

Note how many are in Europe!

Revisionist Museum

Erika on a Mission

The news that Erika Steinbach has decided not to stand as a member of the council for the the new museum dedicated to Germans expelled from their homes after World War II has come as a relief to the majority of Poles, Czechs and Jews but it does not solve the problem that this museum is being built in the first place.

Revisionismus
Steinbach is president of the Federation of Expellees (BdV), an organisation that seeks to represent the interests of all Germans who were forced to leave their homes in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II. Steinbach is known for her controversial views and there are hints of revisionism in her attitude to Germany’s part in the Second World War. She seeks to focus on the plight of German expellees after the war rather than looking at the plight of all expellees and the reason behind these expulsions. What is more, Poles note the fact that Steinbach voted against the act reconfirming modern Polish-German borders in 1990. The Czechs, on the other hand, remember the fact that she was a vehement critic of the implementation of the Czech-German Declaration in 1997.

Goldenes Zeitalter
The amount of ill feeling caused by the Centre Against Expulsions and the proposed museum is unsurprising. Rather than discuss the whole problem of expulsions in a wider context, the Centre Against Expulsions eagerly lists the history of each expelled German ‘tribe’ (together with coat-of-arms) as well as listing how many people from each particular nation were expelled and by whom (which country). The attitude here is one of lost tribes, a glorious past as well as finger-pointing and the shifting of responsibility for the expulsion of Germans away from the country that instigated World War II. It is not therefore surprising that most Central and Eastern European citizens find the idea of such a museum repulsive.

Graue Eminenz
With Erika Steinbach being at the forefront of this shift in attitude to the outcomes of, reasons and responsibilities for World War II, the sigh of relief that she will not be a part of the council for this museum can be heard across Europe. The museum council numbers thirteen members of which three have been allotted to members of BdV. With the resignation of Steinbach, the council, curiously, will only number twelve with no one taking her place which leads to the suggestion that her resignation is probably only temporary and that she will soon be back leading the fight for the construction of the museum. In the meantime, behind the curtain, she will be pulling the strings anyway.

Round Table Anniversary

Foreground (l-r): Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Lech Wałęsa. Background (l-r): Kuroń, Geremek, Kwaśniewski.

Today is a wonderful day. The 6th February 2009 is the 20th anniversary of one of the most important moments in European history. On the 6th February 1989, twenty years ago, the so-called ‘Round Table’ talks kicked off in Warsaw and so began the dismantling of the totalitarian regime in Poland.

Good vs. Evil
The Round Table talks were pretty amazing as they saw the communist government invite representatives of Solidarity (the anti-government, anti-communist, pro-democratic semi-legal opposition) as well as members of the Catholic Church (sworn enemies of communism) to the table in order to discuss the future. The very fact that all of these people were able, and wanted, to sit down and together discuss the future of their country was unprecedented on a European, and perhaps even global, scale.

Forces of Good
The members of the Solidarity opposition who sat at the Round Table (and in later years became key figures in Polish politics) included: Lech Wałęsa (leader of Solidarity), Bronisław Geremek (chief consultant to Lech Wałęsa), Tadeusz Mazowiecki (editor-in-chief of the weekly Solidarność), Jacek Kuroń (Solidarity advisor and founder of the Workers’ Defence Committee), Adam Michnik (Solidarity advisor and Workers’ Defence Committee member) and Lech Kaczyński (Solidarity advisor).

Forces of Evil
The governmental side at the Round Table included: General Czesław Kiszczak (member of the Politbiuro and Minister of Internal Affairs), Leszek Miller (member of the Central Committee of the Party) and Aleksander Kwaśniewski (Minister for Young People).  The infamous General Kiszczak is said to have played a fundamentally positive role in the talks. Leszek Miller and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, perhaps not huge players at the time, were set for dazzling careers in Polish politics in the years to come.

Wałęsa at the Table

Repercussions
The talks were pivotal in the fact that they saw the bitterest of enemies sit down and constructively discuss the future of a nation on the brink of economic and social collapse. As a result, Solidarity gained a tangible foothold in Eastern European politics and led to the disintegration of communism throughout Europe. The Round Table not only began the erosion of communism within Europe, but the participants (including the much-maligned communists) actively worked towards the dismantling of a totalitarian regime that they realised no longer had a future.

Round Table Careers
The political legacy of the talks can still be felt today. Beginning with the Solidarity side, Lech Wałęsa went on to become President of Poland, Bronisław Geremek was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tadeusz Mazowiecki was Poland’s first post-war democratically-elected Prime Minister, Jacek Kuroń became Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Adam Michnik founded Poland’s first post-war free newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and Lech Kaczyński is currently President of Poland. As for the communists, Leszek Miller became Polish Prime Minster whereas Aleksander Kwaśniewski was President of Poland. Three Presidents, two Prime Ministers and a host of ministers is quite a legacy.