Pytania o Polskę w okresie przełomu politycznego w 1989 roku w świetle relacji wybranych polityków zachodnioniemieckich

Abstrakt

Questions about Poland during the political breakthrough in 1989 through the prism of a selection of West German politicians’ reports

The situation in Poland at the end of 1988 as well as the dynamic changes in the first half of 1989 were a subject of many analyses in West Germany conducted by politicians and trade unionists. First of all, they were interested in the development of opposition’s power and also the condition of internal reforms. On this base they tried to predict directions of the future of Polish development. In West Germany the following questions were raised: What will the Polish political scene look like? What will democracy and Solidarity be in Poland? Furthermore, West German observers were tracking political “trends” of newly created political and social organizations.
From the analysis emerges not only a picture of the country’s internal division and complicated domes­tic relations, but also a lack of a positive programme, internal tensions and contradictory interests. In that crucial time, public consciousness of the importance of changes had accompanied to passivity great part of society. Foreign observers more than once expressed anxiety that Poland could miss the opportunity which arose from the citizens’ mobilizations and the Solidarity movement from the beginning of the 1980s.