Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international correspondents share snapshots of moments from their lives and work around the world.
Within an hour of touching down at Chopin Airport in mid-April, I found myself here along the centuries-old Krakowskie Przedmieście street, among the flag-waving supporters of Poland’s conservative and nationalist Law and Justice Party, known by its acronym PiS.
I have been to many events like this one over the past several years of covering Poland, but I had never been among so many red and white Polish flags. As I elbowed my way through the thousands of marchers, dozens of flags caressed my face and hair, and one managed to cover my head for several seconds, temporarily blinding me as the chanting crowd moved around me.
They’d come here to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of Poland’s first king, Bolesław the Brave. Many were exhibiting next-level patriotism, wearing traditional, colorfully embroidered costumes and fur hats — symbols that seemed to serve, on this day, the political message about the importance of national identity delivered by the presidential candidate they’d come to see ahead of one of their most important elections in a generation.
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