Krzysztof ZANUSSI Polish film and theatre director “Don’t call Poland Eastern Europe, please!” My request, chosen as the title of this article, is quoted from an instruction I received from the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs of the first democratically elected government in 1989, when I went to Strasbourg to inaugurate our presence at the Council of Europe. The request was justified. There are no geographical grounds for calling it Eastern Europe. The Czech capital, Prague, is situated to the west of Vienna, yet the Czech Republic is mistaken for Eastern Europe. The notion originates from the Yalta Conference in 1945, at which time it was used to refer to “a sphere of Russian influence”. Poland belongs to Western Europe because of its historical heritage, which is Latin and not Byzantine. Therefore, our thinking patterns are influenced by the scholastic medieval philosophy of the Crusades and its ethos of chivalry,
Ce contenu est réservé aux abonné(e)s. Vous souhaitez vous abonner ? Merci de cliquer sur le lien ci-après -> S'abonner
