Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The largest and most populous of these countries is Poland. With 38.6 million people and lying between two historic enemies, Poland’s borders have shifted time and again; but its current, post–1945 reconfiguration appears to be more durable than previous territorial layouts. As the map shows, the historic and once-central capital of Warsaw now lies closer to Russia in the east than to Germany in the west, but the country today has decidedly shifted its gaze westward. After entering the EU in 2004, Poland saw hundreds of thousands of workers depart for jobs in the European Core. But many have since returned as the national economy has grown robustly in this decade (Poland may now be in its best shape ever), and economic relations with Germany are at their closest in history. Overall, Poland has benefited substantially from joining the EU, and the country’s westernmost provinces, which border and are more closely tied to Germany, are much better off than those in the east." [Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, 17th Edition, p. 188]