1 - The Displaced Generation of the Children of Martial Law

Summary

Since 1989, generations in Poland have customarily been viewed as demographic cohorts and referred to by their members’ age: hence the most popular designation of the generation under discussion is the generation of the forty-year-olds—that is, those born in the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s. Recently, journalist Beata Tadla (b. 1975) drew considerable public attention to her age-mates with the publication of her two books, Pokolenie ‘89 czyli dzieci PRL-u w nowej Polsce (Generation ‘89 or the children of the People's Republic in new Poland, 2009) and Niedziela bez Teleranka (A Sunday without a children's program, 2011). The publication of the books marked an important breach splitting the lives of that generation into two equal segments, spent in communist and democratic Poland, respectively. In her books, Tadla promotes her conviction that their unique historical location between two political systems presented the members of her age group not only with many challenges but also with opportunities that not one of the preceding generations ever had. For Pokolenie’89 she interviewed fortyseven of her coevals from various backgrounds: journalists, politicians, musicians, athletes, actors, and artists. All of them told stories of struggle and remarkable success. Fully aware of potential accusations of bias, she nonetheless chose to highlight the positive experiences of her generational community in order to enliven the predominately bleak picture of the People's Republic of Poland. This book, however, was not born out of nostalgia or a desire to glorify the communist times. In her introduction, Tadla points out that the excitement she felt during the interviews made her realize the strong bond between herself and her peers. The emotion that the shared experiences evoked was undoubtedly one of the reasons for the consistent capitalized spelling of the pronoun “our” in the phrase “our generation.” Throughout herbook, Tadla demonstrates her sincere pride in belonging to a special community touched by an extraordinary historical event. According to her, this event did not make her generation better than the preceding and succeeding generations, but it definitely enriched her coevals with a unique perspective on life and politics and a deeper appreciation of life's opportunities.