A tale of two countries
It is like a runner after a marathon (especially if she realizes that she has to run another one the next week). After all, EU membership is actually the product of a decade of almost incomprehensible and rapid transformation. In a way, it is our Western European compatriots who should be celebrating. After all, Poland (and her sister entrants) promise new markets full of high potential and creative energy that can catalyze and strengthen the EU over time.
For Poles, the transformation is still a work in progress, but already the distance covered is for most outside observers already beyond the scope of comprehension.
For me the changes in Poland are very personal. After nearly 14 consecutive years living here I have had the opportunity to participate in shaping the future (in my own small way) but have also been shaped by this transformation myself. I have a couple of snapshot images - visual images and thoughts - that come to mind as I think about Poland.
February 1986: When I arrived in Warsaw for the first time, it was not only unthinkable, but also unthought of, that Poland would join the EU. As the plane landed on the Tarmac, there was flood lighting for the runway lights. I remember the snow and also the dark cityscape of Warsaw. As there were no street lights and almost no neon lights, the winter was truly long and dark.
Today, Warsaw is probably the largest building site in Europe, its modern buildings almost hiding the lack of urban planning (which, as most historians know was a problem for the city in both pre-communist and pre-war times).
March 1992: Warsaw was alive with activity, the street markets were booming. Since the Solidarity victory in 1991 the city - and country - had come alive with commerce. There were no fast food restaurants but you could buy a zapiekanka (ketchup and cheese melted on a baguette) at any corner. The city was decrepit, and you still had a living memory of the second world war.
Today, McDonald's and Pizza Hut, the French hypermarkets and the suburban shopping mall are ubiquitous. The zapiekanka has been relegated to the trash bin of transformation (a 'niche' market that disappeared). The city is still decrepit in parts, but it has the glitz of a large capital. Unfortunately, the size of change in Warsaw is not mirrored outside of the other largest cities - many smaller and mid-sized cities are now more decrepit than ever before, as the migration from the countryside continues.
In 1992, the year I was married at the 'Palace of Weddings' in Warsaw, the government still did not recognize the validity of church weddings. In that year, it was reported that one in five marriages in Warsaw were between a Pole and a foreigner.
The mid-90s: Between 1992 and 1998 the number of cars on Polish roads more than tripled (as did the number of driver's licenses). So if you ever thought that drivers were poor in Poland, perhaps you were right!
The mid-90s were characterized by a dramatic rise in the sale of white goods and just about everything. The society was starving for goods such as washing machines and televisions - many of which were perceived as luxuries only one or two years before. There was also a substantial amount of money in Polish society. The dollar had been such an important part of the Polish economy prior to the changes that the initial phases of economic transformation were less brutal than in some of the neighboring countries (because of the substantial unreported amount of U.S. dollars in many households).
However, not everything was so rosy. Sociologists began to note, by around 1997, that there was an alarming increase in violent crime - especially assault. Also, the awareness of the scale of the destructive cycles of alcoholism and domestic violence started to grow (although neither of these is still adequately addressed). Studies of teenagers even noted that some children hated their parents because they were not wealthy. In a society that had always been 'safe,' suddenly there was an awareness of organized crime and a fear of it.
As the 90s came to a close, the enthusiasm and growth of the decade had slipped into a realization that it would not go on forever.
I remember vividly going to a small town in Western Poland with only 2,000 inhabitants. The town had one factory - which had just been purchased by a multinational. It was awaiting 'downsizing' with fear and a brave face. When I interviewed the senior management, they were very much like how their counterparts in the large cities had been almost eight years before.
And the restaurant we ate at, with a disco polo band playing in the background, served reheated frozen food that could be bought from the nearest hypermarket. I was struck by the contrast to my visits to Poland in the 80s - where if you had enough money, usually just 20 or 30 dollars, you could get fresh fish or an excellent steak for dinner.
Lasting Success and Broad Contradictions: Over the past decade, success in business has been celebrated, and today some businessmen in Poland are like rock stars, eliciting admiration and envy (and more recently also antipathy). Some of the most public of these executives now try to take the place left vacant by 50 years of communism and its partial destruction of Poland's traditional society with its orientation toward landed gentry and nobility - leaving the new business class to try to recreate an 'elite society' built on the premise that money means good taste and nobility.
Of course, twenty years ago, wealth was hidden in Poland - almost by necessity. It was not to be displayed for fear that someone might come and take it away. Even today, many people fear that an overt display of wealth can lead to becoming a victim of crime. On the other hand, there is a growing economic disparity being created in Polish society. In a recent Polish magazine article, research indicated that someone who earned zł.1,000 per month or more was considered wealthy, and that two-thirds of the people surveyed did not know anyone wealthy.
Polish society is being (re)created and (re)visioned along the lines of many of the pre-war traditions. It is like a caterpillar that will emerge from its cocoon as a butterfly. We are waiting and wanting to see, but it's still too early to say what kind of butterfly it will become.
Creating a Future: Years ago, I was particularly struck by the films of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety (a film movement that was predicated around revealing the inherent contradictions that had become part of daily life in communist Poland). This movement grew out of documentary filmmaking, and one of its central tropes was the importance of chance occurrence as a determining factor in life. As a central theme, the films of this genre explored the moral bankrupcty of Polish life and the importance of individual responsibility even (or especially) in such situations.
This month, I have reviewed a number of these films - some for the first time in 10 years - and it is amazing how prophetic and accurate they are, even now. As Poland joins the EU, we should spend a few moments, not thinking only about business and business opportunities, but about the society we want to emerge, and how we can make that happen. As Poland moves into the EU, I imagine that many here are devoting their thoughts to doing just that.
Matthew Tebeau, the Managing Partner of Ray and Berndtson Poland and the Baltic States
For Poles, the transformation is still a work in progress, but already the distance covered is for most outside observers already beyond the scope of comprehension.
For me the changes in Poland are very personal. After nearly 14 consecutive years living here I have had the opportunity to participate in shaping the future (in my own small way) but have also been shaped by this transformation myself. I have a couple of snapshot images - visual images and thoughts - that come to mind as I think about Poland.
February 1986: When I arrived in Warsaw for the first time, it was not only unthinkable, but also unthought of, that Poland would join the EU. As the plane landed on the Tarmac, there was flood lighting for the runway lights. I remember the snow and also the dark cityscape of Warsaw. As there were no street lights and almost no neon lights, the winter was truly long and dark.
Today, Warsaw is probably the largest building site in Europe, its modern buildings almost hiding the lack of urban planning (which, as most historians know was a problem for the city in both pre-communist and pre-war times).
March 1992: Warsaw was alive with activity, the street markets were booming. Since the Solidarity victory in 1991 the city - and country - had come alive with commerce. There were no fast food restaurants but you could buy a zapiekanka (ketchup and cheese melted on a baguette) at any corner. The city was decrepit, and you still had a living memory of the second world war.
Today, McDonald's and Pizza Hut, the French hypermarkets and the suburban shopping mall are ubiquitous. The zapiekanka has been relegated to the trash bin of transformation (a 'niche' market that disappeared). The city is still decrepit in parts, but it has the glitz of a large capital. Unfortunately, the size of change in Warsaw is not mirrored outside of the other largest cities - many smaller and mid-sized cities are now more decrepit than ever before, as the migration from the countryside continues.
In 1992, the year I was married at the 'Palace of Weddings' in Warsaw, the government still did not recognize the validity of church weddings. In that year, it was reported that one in five marriages in Warsaw were between a Pole and a foreigner.
The mid-90s: Between 1992 and 1998 the number of cars on Polish roads more than tripled (as did the number of driver's licenses). So if you ever thought that drivers were poor in Poland, perhaps you were right!
The mid-90s were characterized by a dramatic rise in the sale of white goods and just about everything. The society was starving for goods such as washing machines and televisions - many of which were perceived as luxuries only one or two years before. There was also a substantial amount of money in Polish society. The dollar had been such an important part of the Polish economy prior to the changes that the initial phases of economic transformation were less brutal than in some of the neighboring countries (because of the substantial unreported amount of U.S. dollars in many households).
However, not everything was so rosy. Sociologists began to note, by around 1997, that there was an alarming increase in violent crime - especially assault. Also, the awareness of the scale of the destructive cycles of alcoholism and domestic violence started to grow (although neither of these is still adequately addressed). Studies of teenagers even noted that some children hated their parents because they were not wealthy. In a society that had always been 'safe,' suddenly there was an awareness of organized crime and a fear of it.
As the 90s came to a close, the enthusiasm and growth of the decade had slipped into a realization that it would not go on forever.
I remember vividly going to a small town in Western Poland with only 2,000 inhabitants. The town had one factory - which had just been purchased by a multinational. It was awaiting 'downsizing' with fear and a brave face. When I interviewed the senior management, they were very much like how their counterparts in the large cities had been almost eight years before.
And the restaurant we ate at, with a disco polo band playing in the background, served reheated frozen food that could be bought from the nearest hypermarket. I was struck by the contrast to my visits to Poland in the 80s - where if you had enough money, usually just 20 or 30 dollars, you could get fresh fish or an excellent steak for dinner.
Lasting Success and Broad Contradictions: Over the past decade, success in business has been celebrated, and today some businessmen in Poland are like rock stars, eliciting admiration and envy (and more recently also antipathy). Some of the most public of these executives now try to take the place left vacant by 50 years of communism and its partial destruction of Poland's traditional society with its orientation toward landed gentry and nobility - leaving the new business class to try to recreate an 'elite society' built on the premise that money means good taste and nobility.
Of course, twenty years ago, wealth was hidden in Poland - almost by necessity. It was not to be displayed for fear that someone might come and take it away. Even today, many people fear that an overt display of wealth can lead to becoming a victim of crime. On the other hand, there is a growing economic disparity being created in Polish society. In a recent Polish magazine article, research indicated that someone who earned zł.1,000 per month or more was considered wealthy, and that two-thirds of the people surveyed did not know anyone wealthy.
Polish society is being (re)created and (re)visioned along the lines of many of the pre-war traditions. It is like a caterpillar that will emerge from its cocoon as a butterfly. We are waiting and wanting to see, but it's still too early to say what kind of butterfly it will become.
Creating a Future: Years ago, I was particularly struck by the films of the Cinema of Moral Anxiety (a film movement that was predicated around revealing the inherent contradictions that had become part of daily life in communist Poland). This movement grew out of documentary filmmaking, and one of its central tropes was the importance of chance occurrence as a determining factor in life. As a central theme, the films of this genre explored the moral bankrupcty of Polish life and the importance of individual responsibility even (or especially) in such situations.
This month, I have reviewed a number of these films - some for the first time in 10 years - and it is amazing how prophetic and accurate they are, even now. As Poland joins the EU, we should spend a few moments, not thinking only about business and business opportunities, but about the society we want to emerge, and how we can make that happen. As Poland moves into the EU, I imagine that many here are devoting their thoughts to doing just that.
Matthew Tebeau, the Managing Partner of Ray and Berndtson Poland and the Baltic States
