Poland was the first country that got rid of the communist regime. The Poles were the first who managed to bring about changes in the former socialist camp three decades ago. Poland and Romania were the resistance pieces of the sanitary cordon created by those from the West against the communist expansion in Eastern Europe. The opinions were stated by historians in a roundtable meeting entitled “30 years of the fall of Communism. Common aspirations, parallel destinies” that was staged by the Embassy of Poland in Moldova, IPN reports.
According to historian Igor Caşu, during the last two centuries, the 19th and the 20th, Poland had a tumultuous history. The Poles mounted two large-scale revolutions against the Tsarist regime and other important events that marked Poland in the communist period. Even if the Communist regime struggled against the Catholic church, religion remained a very important element in the spiritual life of the Poles even on the communist period. Another factor that enabled Poland to come to the forefront of changes in the socialist camp 30 years ago was the fact that in Moscow, the leader of the Soviet Union Mihail Gorbaciov wasn’t very clear in his plans and the Poles profited from that moment.
Historian Anatol Petrencu said the 1990s were an important period in the history of mankind. The world divided into two camps – the communist regimes with the Soviet Union in the lead and the Western countries. Then, the Catholic church played a very important role in demolishing the communist regime and Poland was the first county that got rid of the communist regime. Other countries followed its example. “30 years have passed. The question is where we are and why we have so different destinies. The Baltic countries are members of the EU and NATO. You see what is going on in Ukraine. Georgia makes considerable efforts to integrate into the civilized world. The Republic of Moldova takes no step and we witness stagnation,” stated Anatol Petrencu.
According to historian Octavian Ţîcu, Communism was foreign to the Eastern-European identity and Poland and Romania were the resistance pieces of the sanitary cordon built by those from the West against the communist expansion in Eastern Europe. Poland was the only state that in the interwar period secured the eastern borders of Romania, including those of Bessarabia, against Soviet aggression. “The coming of Communism was shocking for Eastern Europe and should be regarded within the power or security problem equation of Stalin. Stalin saw a response to the security dilemma of the Soviet system and the Soviet Union in the communization of Eastern Europe,” he noted.
Poland’s Ambassador to Moldova Bartlomiej Zdaniuk said Poland and the Poles in the period of the Cold War had a cemetery peace with many sacrifices and suffering. “The Cold War is a moment where an important role is played by ideology. It is actually an ideological confrontation between the camp of the Western world, a liberal model and a socialist model,” stated the diplomat.
Photographs chronicling the events that led to the fall of Communism in Poland 30 years ago have been displayed at an exhibition mounted at the National Library in Chisinau. The event was organized by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance in Bucharest.
The Revolutions of 1989 formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond. The period is sometimes called the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the Revolutions of 1848. The events of the full-blown revolution first began in Poland in 1989 and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania.
