Choosing Poland
Being a ‘complete foreigner’ (no Polish roots and no Jewish roots – an authentic Anglo-Australian born on the other side of the planet) my knowledge of Poland before setting out was limited to the conventional stereotype: grinding poverty; a grey country with an awful climate hacked to pieces during the Second World War; forests soaked in partisan blood and the site of unspeakable death camps; a depressing Soviet satellite. The collective European memory of this nation has been systematically erased by wave upon wave of invaders and occupiers.
I first came to Poland in 1992 from a sense of adventure because I wanted to explore the countries of East-Central Europe after the fall of the Berlin wall. More personally as a musician, I had pledged my famous concert pianist grand-uncle on his deathbed that I would visit Poland one day and spread a handful of his ashes at Żelazowa Wola, the birthplace of his adored composer Fryderyk Chopin.
During my many years visiting this country I have discovered that a man who favours the rational, pragmatic and imperial temperament of the conqueror will not find much to sustain him in Polish history. But the rhapsodic temperament, the lover of charm and hospitality, the brave and reckless in life, the imaginative observer, the advocate of freedom will surely be satisfied. The lover of horses and horsemen, the patriot who treasures honour and fidelity above all, the romantic who favours the heroic gesture over the consequence, the burning emotion over the achievement, sincerity of intention over regularity of thought – such as these will mine a rich seam.
Empathy for Poland and its fraught history remains a rare commodity in today’s world of realpolitik. Quite unexpectedly when I came and finally settled here, I found myself seduced by a far wider canvas, the slow revelation of a rhapsodic and romantic cultural history, a land of surreal emotions and theatrical gesture, a place of warmth and generosity, a passionate past of oriental magnificence and sublime excess, moments of the utmost patriotic heroism in the face of impossible odds, a life rich in spontaneity and individual character.
Modern Poland with its large population and significant influence is once again taking its proper place as a member of the European community. Adam Michnik, a leading dissident and founder of Gazeta Wyborcza, one of Poland’s major daily newspapers, commented: ‘The three biggest dreams were to be free, to end the absurd economic system and for the Russians to leave. All seemed unachievable, but the 1989 elections made them possible.’
Significant transformation in the expectations and living standards of many Poles have taken place since my first encounter with the country in 1992. The present Prime Minister Donald Tusk has spoken of a ‘civilisational acceleration’ in answer to the difficult financial conditions of the world economic recession. A noticeable lack of panic in the present financial crisis distinguishes Poland from many other more developed EU member states even through many fluctuations of confidence. The fundamentals of the economy remain strong, productivity is high, salaries moderate with a generally good safety record and the country has an excellent geographical location for European trade.
Since the early 1990s there has been an inevitable migration from villages to larger towns and cities. Developmental opportunities have emerged abroad and there has been increased acquisition of degrees and diplomas. In some ways I find Poland today ‘boringly normal’ and reminiscent of the England I left behind. Modern cars abound, tractors have replaced the magnificent working horse, new apartments of cutting edge architecture are being erected everywhere, passports for travel within Europe have been effectively abolished and foreign holidays are enjoyed by ever increasing numbers of Poles. The psychology of Poles too is gradually being transformed following entry to the EU.
Yet Poland remains a country of extremes, a country in transition. The glitter of expensive cars fills the city streets even as social services, education, the health service and state bureaucracy still desperately need further reform although some improvements have been made. Tensions continue between the old-fashioned conservative, Catholic and provincial mentality and the more outward and forward looking, redefined modern Poland. However it is well to remember that development after a crippling war that has taken more than half a century to complete in Western Europe has been telescoped in Poland into a mere twenty years. The achievement is remarkable, but as with the forced feeding of any organism, unnatural growths have appeared during this unnaturally accelerated process.
The unique contribution Poland has made to the European psyche is resistance to oppression whatever the cost, a universal human emotion rarely expressed with such intensity as here. The political philosopher in Edmund Burke would have been astonished at the extraordinary transformations of this ‘brave and haughty nation, long nursed in independence’. Poland is no longer his ‘country in the moon’, a phrase he used to describe Poland after the Third and final Partition of the country in 1795. I used this eloquent quote as the title of my book A Country in the Moon : Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland (London 2009) and in Polish Kraj z Księżyca: Podróze do serca Polski (Warsaw 2010). For many Westerners this image of the country still applies, a far away country about which little is known. In writing this book I wanted to overturn that false image in the eyes of the thinking European and open his eyes to the attractive reality.
© Michael Moran, July 2010
www.michael-moran.net
