2010.04.14: RPCV Mark Douglas Lenzi writes: Can Poland get past the ‘curse'?

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RPCV Mark Douglas Lenzi writes: Can Poland get past the ‘curse'?

RPCV Mark Douglas Lenzi writes: Can Poland get past the ‘curse'?

Poland's longtime allies - first and foremost the United States - would best honor President Kaczynski and all of those who died in the crash by expanding on their work to confront the challenges that were most important to them - assisting Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova to become consolidated democracies, increasing civil society and free media support for authoritarian Belarus, and compelling Russia to honestly assess its past in hopes of constructively dealing with Europe as not only a partner, but a future ally. If these challenges are met, then the tragic deaths of the Polish leaders will not have been in vain and Poland will be able to bury once and for all its curses from the past.

RPCV Mark Douglas Lenzi writes: Can Poland get past the ‘curse'?

Can Poland get past the ‘curse'?

April 14, 2010|By Mark Douglas Lenzi

Caption: Citizens of Poland mourn the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a forest near Smolensk, Russia, where their forefathers were murdered exactly 70 years ago. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons by radziu Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic


When I joined the Peace Corps in Poland more than a decade ago I had never given much thought to curses. I didn't even believe the Red Sox were cursed - just victims of continual bad luck.

My attitude about whether curses really exist quickly changed once arriving in Poland as a naive civil engineer. The city I worked for did not have enough money to provide me with a traditional apartment and I was assigned to live in the infamous Kielce prison - a place that witnessed unspeakable horror in World War II when the Nazis used it to shoot Poles and Jews. After the war, Stalin's secret police continued to use one of the prison's concrete walls as a backstop for murderous bullets.

Living for more than two years by yourself in a former killing ground where at night the loudest sound is the wind through empty cells gives one a bit of perspective on curses. In Poland, I quickly realized that the Poles' tragic history was palpable in everyday life and that they have an innate sense that certain curses not only exist but, in fact, drive much of the nation in an impressive collective effort to try to break free from them.
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Katyn Forest is one of those curses. While the irony of President Lech Kaczynski and much of the upper echelon political and military class of Poland perishing in a plane crash in a forest near Smolensk, Russia, where their forefathers were murdered exactly 70 years ago is self-evident, what is lesser known is the extent of Kaczynski's unwavering efforts to try to confront these curses facing Poland and to relegate them to history.

Poland's efforts to transform its society and confront the curses of its history led me away from engineering and into the field of democracy promotion, where I worked closely with Polish government efforts to try to bring democracy to Georgia. It was in Tbilisi where I met President Kaczynski for the last time in 2007. He was his usual subdued self and seemed to enjoy playing a leading role in trying to help Georgia confront its challenges from the past, which were not dissimilar from the ones Poland faced multiple times in the 20th century.

Poland's longtime allies - first and foremost the United States - would best honor President Kaczynski and all of those who died in the crash by expanding on their work to confront the challenges that were most important to them - assisting Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova to become consolidated democracies, increasing civil society and free media support for authoritarian Belarus, and compelling Russia to honestly assess its past in hopes of constructively dealing with Europe as not only a partner, but a future ally.

If these challenges are met, then the tragic deaths of the Polish leaders will not have been in vain and Poland will be able to bury once and for all its curses from the past.

Mark Lenzi is a former Fulbright scholar and Peace Corps volunteer in Poland.




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Headlines: April, 2010; Peace Corps Poland; Directory of Poland RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Poland RPCVs; Speaking Out; Politics





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Story Source: Chicago Tribune

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Poland; Speaking Out; Politics

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