History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]

I'm afraid it's gonna be friggin' hard to change "Western" European people's perception of that part of Europe. Any country that has ever been behind the Iron Curtain is always gonna be considered part of Eastern Europe. They will hardly acknowledge any major differences within that region. You can call it ignorance or lack of education, but sadly that's just the way it is.

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]


Are you asking me what the perception was before the Eastern bloc was established? Well, as far as I know, all this region including Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and probably some other countries, was called Central Europe (Mittel Europa). The term "Eastern Europe" wasn't that much in use I suppose. It's mostly a product of the Cold war. But given there were fewer media outlets (no internet, TV, etc.), the perception was rather uncertain. Maybe that's one of the reasons why Neville Chamberlain said about Czechoslovakia during the Munich crisis that it was a far-away country of which they (the British) knew nothing. But in fact Czechoslovakia at that time was a highly developed country, better off than Italy, Spain or Austria. And maybe it's this kind of attitude that this so called "Eastern Europe" is just too far away to give a damn about.