The Helsinki Commission has a long history of engagement in Central Europe, recognizing the importance of the individual countries of the region even at a time when many policy makers focused only on Moscow as the center of the Warsaw Pact alliance.  In 1989, at a pivotal moment in Polish history, a delegation from the Helsinki Commission was present in the Polish parliament when Tadeusz Mazowiecki was elected the first non-Communist Prime Minister since the end of WWII.  

Today, Poland is Central Europe’s biggest country, its largest economy, an exemplar of successful post-communist democratic transformation, and a cornerstone for NATO’s engagement in the region. Commissioners follow a broad range of issues in Poland, including unresolved issues relating to wrongful property confiscations during the Nazi occupation of Poland and the communist period. Bronislaw Geremek represented Poland during its 1998 chairmanship of the OSCE.