I too got to see behind the Iron Curtain, back in the spring (March) of 1989. I was part of a mammoth tour of Bach's B Minor Mass, with full orchestra, chorus and choir. Our tour took us first to East Berlin, then to Moscow, then to Budapest, then to Warsaw, and then to Lisbon. I could write a long description of what all we saw and enco…
I too got to see behind the Iron Curtain, back in the spring (March) of 1989. I was part of a mammoth tour of Bach's B Minor Mass, with full orchestra, chorus and choir. Our tour took us first to East Berlin, then to Moscow, then to Budapest, then to Warsaw, and then to Lisbon. I could write a long description of what all we saw and encountered, and it was pretty amazing (we were the first such authentic instrument group to tour there), but being in Warsaw at what, it turned out, was the cusp of the wall coming down was incredible. You could almost feel it in the air that change was coming--I remember in particular seeing, in the midst of all the countless grey, colourless, depressing cement buildings, one person had displayed on their balcony a small "Solidarność" flag. That little swatch of red stood out like a little beacon of hope against all the drab surroundings. I'll never forget it. Our performance in Warsaw was electric, with an incredibly packed hall as the Polish people were starved to hear Bach's immaculate setting of the mass. It was one of the most incredible performances I have ever been a part of in my life. It has pained me no end to see the populist right wing (the Law and Justice Party, among others) rising so prominently in Poland, with undoubted support of the Catholic church. It's like the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other. Kaczyński did step down from the government recently to concentrate on organising his party for elections in the autumn--and he has gone on the record as being against Orbán's stance on the Ukraine invasion--but he is by no means going away. As you said, Kaczyński represents yet another authoritarian version of government that Poland would be foolish to adopt. It could also run contra to many precepts shared by EU member states. No, potentially quite ugly.
Sadly, I am reminded of the comment that one observer made that with the fall of Communism, Poland was free to resume its natural inclination, toward fascism.
I too got to see behind the Iron Curtain, back in the spring (March) of 1989. I was part of a mammoth tour of Bach's B Minor Mass, with full orchestra, chorus and choir. Our tour took us first to East Berlin, then to Moscow, then to Budapest, then to Warsaw, and then to Lisbon. I could write a long description of what all we saw and encountered, and it was pretty amazing (we were the first such authentic instrument group to tour there), but being in Warsaw at what, it turned out, was the cusp of the wall coming down was incredible. You could almost feel it in the air that change was coming--I remember in particular seeing, in the midst of all the countless grey, colourless, depressing cement buildings, one person had displayed on their balcony a small "Solidarność" flag. That little swatch of red stood out like a little beacon of hope against all the drab surroundings. I'll never forget it. Our performance in Warsaw was electric, with an incredibly packed hall as the Polish people were starved to hear Bach's immaculate setting of the mass. It was one of the most incredible performances I have ever been a part of in my life. It has pained me no end to see the populist right wing (the Law and Justice Party, among others) rising so prominently in Poland, with undoubted support of the Catholic church. It's like the pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other. Kaczyński did step down from the government recently to concentrate on organising his party for elections in the autumn--and he has gone on the record as being against Orbán's stance on the Ukraine invasion--but he is by no means going away. As you said, Kaczyński represents yet another authoritarian version of government that Poland would be foolish to adopt. It could also run contra to many precepts shared by EU member states. No, potentially quite ugly.
Sadly, I am reminded of the comment that one observer made that with the fall of Communism, Poland was free to resume its natural inclination, toward fascism.