Friends, neighbors, strangers? What Poles and Germans actually think of each other?

Dr. Agnieszka Łada-Konefał from the German Institute of Polish Affairs explored this in a study aimed at understanding the general perceptions Poles and Germans have of each other. In her interview with TreffpunktEuropa she explains shared attitudes, anti-German stances in Polish politics and why AfD-voters do not have to be necessarily anti-Polish.

What is the general perception of each other, and what has changed since the PiS-Government has led the government?

Dr. Agnieszka Łada-Konefał: The Polish-German perception was always influenced by history. The Polish-German Barometer, a representative survey that the German Institute for Polish Affairs, the Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation conduct annually shows it very clearly. We can see there, as with most things, perceptions change over the years. During our project, we concluded that the image of Germany in Poland is always better than the image of Poland in Germany. The public perception of Germany in Poland suffered due to the policy of the former PiS government and their eight years of painting a very negative picture of Germany. However, there is more to this development.

The fact that PiS left the government did not influence the image of Germany in Poland by a lot. The situation in Poland is different, I call it a realistic perception. Polish people notice that the German economy is not developing. They see the problems connected to migration. That is a relevant factor influencing negative views. Things have changed, back in the days Poles had a very idealistic view of Germany. It was their dream to have a country like Germany. Now we know Poland is not behind, some sectors are even doing much better than in Germany, for example digitalization, and Poles are self-convenient enough to say this out loud.

However, what has changed in the last months is the image of Poland in Germany. The finding of the study was that the fact that the PiS party is no longer in power has influenced the German opinion of Poland. We can see big changes in the positive direction, however, general feelings towards Poland continue to be mixed. Numerous articles in the German press covered the positive changes in Poland, which resulted in a change in how Poland is perceived in Germany. But in general, the positive attitudes are not dominant. Only around 30% of Germans share a positive view of Poland. That’s not really great, right?

Are there any notable differences in identity or political affiliations between Poles living in Germany and those living in Poland? If yes, how does it influence relations between the both countries?

Łada-Konefał: After each election, we can observe who is popular with the Polish people in Germany. In recent years, the liberal-progressive parties took the lead. However, the PiS party remains influential – the PiS-voters are not a small minority in Germany. Despite that, we observe that the Poles living in Germany are somewhat more liberal and progressive than the Polish society as a whole. In total, the political views of the Polish diaspora do not influence the relations as such. There are so many factors influencing the situation that it does not matter if the Poles in Germany share more liberal values or not. But of course it does influence the image of Poland in Germany, especially when Germans meet liberal progressive Poles.

Still, PiS voters in Germany are very outspoken. I can tell you that they are loud and well organized, sometimes even better than the liberals who are not so much engaged in Polish organizations. Liberal Poles are cosmopolitan, they just want to be part of the German society whereas PiS voters are vastly organised in old Polish associations or around the so-called “Kluby Gazety Polskiej” - associations of readers of the right wing weekly “Gazeta Polska”, which create a nationwide social movement bringing together thousands of conservative Poles in Poland and abroad.

Would you say that due to the shared history, there is a higher affiliation among Eastern Germans with Poland in comparison with Western Germans?

Łada-Konefał: Yes, the Polish-German Barometer shows that the Eastern Germans know much more about Poland and hold a more positive view on Poles and Poland as a country, but it is something relatively new. It used to be very different a few decades ago, as Poles and Eastern Germans were pushed to “love” each other. We were living together in the Eastern Bloc and Russia wanted us to be friends. But the Poles were too oppositional towards the Soviet Bloc, so the Eastern German propaganda said that you shouldn’t trust Poles. Now it is different; Eastern Germans come to Poland relatively often. Our study shows very clearly that the Germans who were in Poland at least once have a better opinion on Poland and the Poles. Eastern Germans have relatively more contact with Poles which leads to more positive attitudes than the ones coming from the Western Germans.

It is interesting to see that correlation, considering that the AfD is quite strong in Eastern Germany and some of its politicians made very questionable statements concerning Poland…

Łada-Konefał: This is a question we should ask ourselves, given that something is not really adding up here. The AfD is strong, especially in the areas where positive attitudes towards Poles are the highest. Then having a deeper look into the AfD voters, and you can see that they vote for the AfD because of very different reasons. They usually base their voting decision on one or two issues that are important to them. At the same time, they manage to blend other policies out. Their voters like for example the migration policies pushed by AfD, which focus on migration from Africa and other countries, but their resentment for migration is not connected to the migration from Poland. They do not connect the bad image of a migrant with a Polish migrant.

Let’s have a look at another case: AfD voters tend to agree with the pro-Russian policy of the party, but at the same time they do not see the correlation between the war in Ukraine and Poland’s interests. It is a common phenomenon on how populist parties gain voters. So it is not like AfD voters are against Poland, they just don’t care about Poland.

Is there any data on German-Polish partnership when it comes to the war in Ukraine and do Poles support the idea of militarization of Germany?

Łada-Konefał: When it comes to the higher spending for the German army, we have asked the Polish participants if they are afraid of a strong Bundeswehr. Our results show clearly that the majority of Poles are not afraid of it. Poles are aware that they need security guarantees from the western flank. We are confident in our partnership in NATO and the EU. Germany spending more on security was generally positively commented - we know that more budget for security also means more support for Ukraine.