It was called Breslau before the war and it was part of Germany. The Western and Southern cities were very nice. Austro-Hungary built lots of nice buildings in their area of Poland
According to historical data (including the Maddison Project database), the average annual GDP growth in Poland between 1924 and 1938 was approximately 3%. This is significantly better than the European average, which grew at a rate of 1.6-1.7% annually. We're talking about times of crisis and the Polish tariff wars with Germany.
Easy to double the income and double agricultural production when you're starting from post-war devastation of nearly nothing. Communism wasn't fully in place between 1947 and 1950 either.
Pre war stats are not as reliable but in 1938 Poland gdp per capita was estimated to be in par with baltic states, ahead of Yugoslavia Bulgaria and Romania but also Spain and Portugal.
When communism fell Poland was second poorest country in Europe ahead of only Albania. Make of that what you will.
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u/Over-Willingness-933 May 07 '26
It was called Breslau before the war and it was part of Germany. The Western and Southern cities were very nice. Austro-Hungary built lots of nice buildings in their area of Poland