"For an American Pole, the rare acknowledgment of Poland's role in Europe ("Poland Is the Indispensable NATO Ally," Review & Outlook, May 4) comes at a price of a certain ominous feeling of deja vu.
Historically, Poland was called Antemurale Christianitatis, the bulwark of Christianity. This isn't merely a sobriquet. It reflects the role Poland played for centuries as a bulwark of Europe, and it isn't a role that Poland has assumed gratuitously.
The root of Poland's blight is its geopolitical position between the various peoples migrating from the steppes of Asia and an aggressive neighbor from the West.
From the East came the Mongols and other peoples whose names are now exotic to our ears. Then there were the Turks, whom Poland was key in defeating before the walls of Vienna in 1683. The expansion of Imperial Russia came at the cost of 250 years of lost freedom for Poland. In 1920, without any help from its Western neighbors, Poland stopped the Soviet army at the Wisla (Vistula) River. When attacked by both Germany and Russia in World War II, Poland's Western neighbors remained in fool's paradise behind the Maginot Line.
I feel somewhat secure in Poland now being part of NATO. But I can't dispense with the memory that treaties don't have to be kept. I am banking not on humanistic democratic sentiments, but rather on realism that a united Europe won't allow an old, tragic story to repeat itself.
Jack Kaczorowski
Los Angeles" [1]
1. Poland, Indispensable to the West? Not Again. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 08 May 2023: A.16.
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