Is my generation the lost generation? We were born in 50-es, 60-es or 70-es and raised during communism therefore we never learned the virtues of capitalistic society which we live in now.

It is hard to imagine how much Poland changed during the last twenty years. One can argue, the whole world changed, the progress is much faster now than ever before but... Poland went not only through the civilization progress like almost any other country but it drastically changed its economical system.

Economical progress was delayed during the communism in Eastern Block while in the same time life became so much easier for Westen European societies. Therefore, when Eastern Europe finally opened their boarders, when the Berlin wall felt and when we joined the European Union, Poland had to do much bigger step to even up with the rest of Europe.

Read more: Is our Generation the Lost Generation?

     Washington, D.C.  Richard P. Poremski - Polish American Journal Washington Bureau - is show above here on Sunday, April 18, 2010 in the Blue Salon at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland. He is signing the official Book of Condolences on behalf of the Polish American Journal, its editor Mark Kohan and staff, and the newspaper's entire readership, conveying their collective sorrow and grief over the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and the other 95 victims of the Smolensk, Russia airplane crash near Katyn Forest on April 10, 2010.

Richard P. Poremski signing condolences book

Read more: PAJ’ Pays Its Respects At Polish Embassy

Saluting PLAV Members and Delivering Speech on Capital Hill during Luncheon

Former commander of Poland's armed forces (as a past president of Poland), Lech Walesa is depicted (right) delivering a hand salute to the assembled members of the Polish Legion of American Veterans after being presented with gifts that included the PLAV cap that he is wearing with obvious delight. At right is Department and Post Commander Eugene Pawlikowski, Sr., at left is official interpreter Magdalena Iwinska. The occasion was the 21st Annual Instillation of Officers, PLAV S/Sgt. Joseph A. Jagiello Post No. 191, Washington Metropolitan Area, in Silver Spring, Maryland on September 25, 2005.

Following the grand banquet, Walesa's rousing speech, which also honored all veterans and their sacrifices, was heard by the assembly and guests from the Embassy of Poland that included Ambassador Janusz Reiter, Deputy Chief of Mission Boguslaw Winid, Culture & Public Affairs Counselor Mariusz Brymora, and Brigadier General Kazimierz Sikorski, Defense and Air Attache. Having recently arrived in Washington from Warsaw, Ambassador Reiter was honored to use the PLAV forum to make his first United States appearance and remarks, ideally occurring in front of a Polonia audience.

Read more: Lech Walesa Visits Washington during 25th Anniversary of Solidarity Workers' Union

This year on August 31 we will celebrate the 25 anniversary of Solidarity Workers’ Union (Zwiazek Zawodowy Solidarnosc) -the first independent workers’ union operated legally in the communistic block. Creation of the Solidarity helped to abolished the Soviet system.

The origin of Solidarity traces back to a creation of Workers' Defense Committee (KOR, Komitet Obrony Robotnikow) in 1976. KOR was created by a group of intellectuals to help the workers who were detained after the strikes in the same year (1976).

Read more: Brief History of Solidarity Workers' Union

The publication of Podziemie Kobiet (Warsaw: Rosner & Wspolnicy, 2003) in Polish by author Shana Penn was celebrated on October 16, 2003 at the Embassy of Poland in Washington, DC which was co-sponsored by the Network of East-West Women. Penn served as the organization's first executive director from 1991-96. The Embassy's invitation states that The Underground of Women recreates the little known history of the heroic Polish women who organized the Solidarity underground during the 1980s martial law years. An all-female team kept the mission of Solidarity alive, and their weekly, clandestine, nationwide newspaper became the acknowledged voice of Solidarity. Penn is the first writer to recognize them as the Founding Mothers of Polish Democracy. These brave women personified the Matka Polka - the Polish Mother - who selflessly protected Poland from the Communist evil during this perilous and revolutionary time.

Read more: Women of Solidarity Workers' Union in Poland