ABSTRACT
In the 1980s, in the aftermath of the Solidarnomw movement andits crushing through General Jaruzelski’s imposition of martial law, Poland had been the center of a wide-ranging debate, about the stability of communism, but also about the stability of European geopolitics. Was a division between East and West inevitable? Poles, Czechs and Hungarians now vigorously protested about the label “East European” and insisted that they were “Europeans” or at least central Europeans. Oddly, few people connected the discussions about ideas and about geography. Even many sympathizers decided that central Europe was different, that Poland would not generate a landslide or a seismic shock for the whole of the East, and that Polish affairs could not easily be translated into Russian politics.
