Polish Paradoxes

Paradox is no new feature of Polish political life. A Slavnation, fiercely Catholic, yet looking towards the non-Slavonic, largely non-Catholic west; a people whose sense of nationhood is uniquely strong, yet who have spent much of their history under foreign rule. Poland remains headline news, and her present is as full of paradoxes as her past. First published in 1990, Polish Paradoxes explains how Poles themselves look at their problems and opportunities and provides a unique insight into the real and perceived pressures on Poland. As well as examining the historical and political roots of the ‘Polish crisis’, the contributors analyse the Polish culture and a national psyche which has equipped Poles to resist foreign domination whilst often inhibiting them from resolving persistent political and economic crises. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of history and politics.

Stanisław Gomułka is a chief economist of the Business Centre Club and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the Economics Department at the London School of Economics from 1970 to 2005. During this period, he also held senior professorial and research fellowship appointments at a number of academic institutions, including Columbia, Harvard, Pennsylvania, and Stanford Universities in the USA.

Antony Polonsky is Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University, USA and Chief Historian of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of Warsaw (2010) and the Jagiellonian University (2014). In 2011, he was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Polonia Restituta and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Independent Lithuania.