Lindsay's Lessons

Some may have stumbled onto my blog and wondered “Why the obsession with Poland?”  While Poland has been a popular topic on social media sites and with video bloggerslately it has always been on my mind since I was a child. My grandparents emigrated to Canada from Poland after the Second World War. Had the war not happened it is not likely that they would have left their nation of birth. Several generations of my family are from Poland or stretching further back, Ukraine (which was part of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth). The side of the family that bears my name are Polish as far back as they can trace. While people often question my last name, as it lacks the common “ski” ending, it actually means “hail” when translated from Polish to English.  I suppose my people were not nobility or we simply did not attach the suffix to our names either.

Both my grandfathers recall that life in Poland before WWII was quite pleasant. My maternal grandfather recalls a lovely summer vacation in 1939 at a cottage and spending time fishing and swimming. My paternal grandfather recalls a normal family life working on their farm in Eastern Poland. Had the country not been virtually destroyed by 1945, and had the Soviets not imposed their rule and communism after WWII it is likely they would have stayed where they were. Life would have been much different and who knows if I even would have existed. The communist threat was the main reason they decided to flee to Canada as they saw no future under this system and had no love for the Soviets. Their instincts would prove to be true as the communist system would make Poland one of the poorest countries in Europe by the 1970s,  suffering food and fuel shortages (Commanding Heights : Poland Economic | on PBS, n.d.). In Canada both sets of my grandparents prospered, finding high paying careers, owning property and having ample retirement savings.

This makes Poland’s rise to become one of the Top 20 economies in the world by 2026 all the more fascinating. In about eighty years this country has completely eclipsed its former self. In reality the transition has only been since 1990 when the new economic reforms shifting Poland from a Marxist/Communist to a neoliberal economy took place, therefore making growth practically exponential. Poland’s GDP per capita in 1990 was a pathetic  $1731.2 USD (World Bank Open Data, n.d.). By 2025 the GDP per capital has risen to $49,464 USD (World Bank Open Data, n.d.). Poland has done this on their own terms as well (with some help from the European Union funding of course). However, when it came to the mass migration/refugee crisis of 2015 for example, Poland refused to give in to EU consensus and continued their economic and political rise on their own terms (Kft, 2018).

When I finally was able to take my pilgrimage to Poland in July of 2016, first landing in Warsaw, I fell in love with the contrasts – the glass skyscrapers next to the communist era concrete block buildings. The milk bars and the Michelin starred restaurants. It launched my enduring fondness for my ancestral homeland. Now we will explore their economics, politics, history and culture and how they have transformed their nation.  In my opinion Poland have even leapfrogged us in North America when it comes to certain goods and services. Each time I have gone there, whether I have been riding transit, getting healthcare, walking on their sidewalks which have separate pedestrian and bike lines away from traffic or even dealing with their consulate here getting my Polish citizenship, I often think – Why can’t we do it this way in Canada?