40 percent of respondents chose the regaining of independence in 1918 as the most important event in the last 100 years. This is double the number of people compared to 2008 (the previous survey), probably due to the upcoming 100 year anniversary.
19 percent chose the fall of communism in 1989 and 18 percent spoke of Poland joining the EU.
Other choices included the ascension of Karol Wojtyła (John Paul II) to the Papal seat (15 pc), the Second World War (14 pc) and the end of the Second World War (11 pc).
Another question concerned what Poles saw as the greatest success of the last 100 years. The majority chose regaining independence in 1918 (25 pc), then entering the EU (24 pc) and the fall of communism (15 pc), often underlined that it was a bloodless transition.
CBOS also asked about Poland’s three greatest failures in that period. The majority spoke of the Second World War and German occupation (14 pc). Second was the communist period in Poland between 1945-1989 (9 pc) and third was the election of Law and Justice (PiS) in 2015 (6 pc) as well as Poland’s subjection and dependency on the USSR (6 pc).
The survey was carried out on 952 random people via the face-to-face method, between the 28th of June and 5th of July 2018.
