alt Hacker NewsBig parts of Poland have been occupied by a regime in Moscow for much longer than soviet empire existed, with roughly same outcomes.
Most than century after Poland gained independence age WW1, you can still see the economical differences from being occupied by Germans and Russians.
Oh let’s just ignore the times Poland/ Lithuanian empire occupied east Slavic lands and force converted a large number of Orthodox in the West to Catholicism. And the kingdom/regime before soviets was quite different than Soviets or modern Russian setup in terms of ideology.
Again, that economic difference from last round was due specially to the failure of communism. And don’t forget that the US poured money into west Germany intentionally to show off their system. Look, I get some people don’t like Russia right now, but you can’t judge history through a modern lens; only through the zeitgeist of the time it occurred in.