Poland is a country in Central Europe that borders Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia. In 1939, German troops invaded Poland, leading Great Britain and France to declare war on Nazi Germany. This event kicked off World War 2. After the war, during the period of 1945-1989, Poland was under a Marxist-Leninist regime, which brought industrialization, urbanization, and improvements to the standard of living, but was more negatively impactful for its heavy Stalinist repressions. 

In "Ireland Makes Irish," Elizabeth Bowen references Poland in the sentence, "I have heard Irish country houses likened to those in Poland and pre-Revolutionary Russia." 

Click here to see an image in Poland the year "Ireland Makes Irish" was published.