Independence Day:  Undoing social and diplomatic harm

November 11 is Polish Independence Day.  The signing of the Armistice ending World War I on November 11, 1918, paved the way for Poland to regain statehood following over a century of partitioning by the Russian, Prussian and Austro-Hungarian Empires.  This small central European country was restored after, literally, being erased from the map by its aggressive neighbors.  Poles worked to retain their language and culture amid intentional Russification and Germanization.  My grandmother recounted being chastised by occupying Austrian soldiers for speaking Polish in a shop in her hometown of Jaroslaw just before WWI.

This year’s Polish Independence Day celebrations felt particularly jubilant as I meandered Krakow’s medieval Marketplace Square festooned with red and white flags.  Toddlers in strollers waved little red and white Polish flags.  People munched obwarzanki, Krakow’s braided, ring-shaped street snack.  I spied a teen sporting a bright rainbow tote on her shoulder in a nod to Poland’s nascent LGBTQI movement.  I overheard revelers speaking Ukrainian, French, Italian, Spanish, English and Vietnamese among the largely Polish crowd.  A stage with elaborate lighting and accompanying video screen hosted a series of prominent Polish performers leading the crowd in a singalong, lyrics provided.

An enormous Polish flag skimmed the 14^th century Ratusz Tower made of stone and brick.  The Gestapo interrogated and tortured Polish citizens here during World War II. The Nazis hung massive red, black and white, in-your-face Swastika banners along the square during their six-year, oppressive occupation of Poland during which approximately six million Polish citizens died.  Three million were Jewish; three million were non-Jewish.  Another three million—one of them was my father—were sent to the Reich as forced laborers. 

I remember walking on the Marketplace Square in the fall of 1984 with my friend Grzegorz, a fellow university student, who said, “See, their (the U.S.S.R.’s) holidays are our holidays.” We were enveloped in a sea of Soviet red flags and banners celebrating the anniversary of the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.  Most Poles at that time were vehemently anti-communist.  They were proud of the fact that Poland registered the lowest Communist Party per capita membership of any of the Warsaw Pact nations.  A common joke from that time mentioned two dogs, one Polish and one Czech, meeting on the Polish-Czech border.  The Polish dog said, “I’m going to Prague so I can buy a pair of shoes.”  The Czech dog said, “I’m going to Warsaw so I can bark.”

Why did this Polish Independence Day feel particularly celebratory to me?  Poles voted on October 15, 2023, to free their country from the right wing, populist stranglehold of the Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc--Law and Justice–party (PIS) which maintained a Parliamentary majority since 2015.  Approximately seventy percent of the electorate turned out, with younger voters playing a pivotal role in results.

Poland’s new coalition government, comprised of the Civil Platform, Third Way and The Left political parties, is poised to assume leadership and elect a Prime Minister.  The victors released a joint statement promising to work together to: restore rule of law, annul Poland’s near-total abortion ban, depoliticize public media, prosecute hate speech made against members of Poland’s LGBT* community, and separate church and state.  They are committed to repair relations with the European Union (EU) for this eastern outpost “edge” of NATO and the EU which borders Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia to the east. In my view, the coalition is striving to undue social and diplomatic harm of eight years of PIS control. 

It will not be smooth sailing for the new government.  Poland’s constitution divides leadership between the Prime Minister, as head of government, and the President, as head of state.  Donald Tusk, leader of the Civic Platform Party will, likely, become Prime Minister, a role he served in from 2007 to 2014.  He was also President of the European Council, comprised of heads of state of EU members charged with informing and leading the political direction of the EU.  Poland’s new coalition government will need to find ways to co-opt and/or work around Polish President Andrzej Duda, a member of the PIS Party.  Duda’s term expires in August of 2025.

I’ve been informally polling family, friends and acquaintances who, admittedly, tend to lean more liberally, like me.  I’m a bit of a regular at a café near my flat where the baristas and I are on a first name basis.  These young Poles churning out espressos, lattes and cappuccinos, voted to oust the PIS government.  Overall, the Poles I talk with are happy with the elections results.  I am hopeful Poland will find a positive and increasingly open and tolerant way forward.  (The waning influence of the Roman Catholic church is a key factor and merits another blog posting from me.  Many Poles are redefining spirituality on their own terms while disconnecting from the dogma of a heavy handed, politicized church.)

I suspect Poland’s deep history of trauma—a legacy of unfortunate geopolitics—impacts a nation and its people for generations. The U.S.’ relative isolation can complicate Americans’ ability to truly understand the historical realities of Central Europe.  I am grateful to be in Poland TODAY to celebrate what the collective spirit of a resilient people can endure. 

*This is the acronym the new government used.  Awareness is growing in Poland and, I suspect, this acronym will be broadened in time.