Przyjaciele Polski – lobby propolskie we współczesnych Niemczech
Friends of Poland: Pro-Polish Lobby in Modern Germany

Summary/Abstract: ON ONE HAND, we shall think it over whether to regard today‘s Germany as our ally, as a strategic partner of Poland in the international arena. It is a task for politicians and their partners. On the other hand, it is worth considering who in Berlin cares about development of relations with Warsaw and who and what is this so-called Polish lobby in Germany? This, in turn, is a task for scientists. Polish lobby in Germany consists of individuals and groups, which generally might be called friends of Poland, and whose activity is based on communication strategy, which is supposed to build and maintain positive image of Poland there. These “communicators” that participate in Polish-German relations (politicians, journalists, scientists, citizens), forming an important part of the discourse about Poland in contemporary Germany, derive mostly from social movements and NGOs established before 1989. This phenomenon is associated with many factors. One of these are inspirations of the mentioned people. Media, because of their situation, hardly ever remind undoubted merits of Germany while helping Poland on its way to political integration with the Western world. This merits are a result of constant promotion of Poland as good candidate for these institutions. Since Polish accession to the EU in 2004, public opinion on both sides of the border have the right to take position regarding future of this cooperation. Contact of pragmatism dominating in Berlin with idealism originating in Warsaw caused difficulties, which have focused attention of media. It’s a shame that the media rarely mention another dimension of Polish–German relations, which is more local and less scandalous. However, several projects show a continued, large diplomatic and institutional effort of Germany to further improve relations with Poland. The question is then how we can now find and name groups of people or interest groups who are behind this successful effort?

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