Europe is the battlefield of the world, and Poland is the battlefield of Europe. Old polish saying, from the time when the Russians and the Germans tended to waltz over the Poles from the east or the west, depending on the prevailing winds.
The west of Poland is doing quite well economically, the East much less so, which I think is a bigger indicator of the different voting patterns than what was german 100 years ago. Proximity to market and affluence is what it is all about.
Right now there are several strong economic zones in Poland, in the east around the capital, Warsaw, in the west around Poznan (sorry, I don't have the right characters on this keyboard to put the names in properly).
What you'll find when you are in Poland is that in the western parts of Poland the attitude and economic situation is quite comparable to the poorer parts of the countries in the west, in the eastern part of Poland the situation is much more comparable to Poland as it used to be before the collapse of the sovblock. It certainly is changing though, every time I'm back there there is another stretch of highway that has become operational, some noticable improvement in the average quality of the cars or the new construction that has been done.
I've been a regular visitor to Poland since '85 and it still is one of the most fascinating countries in Europe to me, and it has some of the nicest people as well.
Politics in Poland are a minefield, even today. The turnover years left Poland as one of the icebreakers of the collapse of the USSR over its satellite states with a confusing lead and no real good plan on how to progress, which led to some lost time. It will take another decade or two at a minimum before the last of the aftershocks from that transition have faded.
Going outside the major population centers in the east of the country (say north of Bialestok) is quite an eye opener, it is quite shocking to see the babushkas walking by the side of the road selling mushrooms they plucked in the forest to rich Germans in expensive cars. I don't think I've seen the contrast between rich and poor expressed so clearly.
What's interesting about the flow (or mix) of coins throughout the Euro zone is that is is an effect caused by individuals. Coins move form place to place in people's pockets and thus has nothing to do with inter-business transactions.
I contributed to the mix myself last summer when i brought lot's of Greek coins back to circulate in SW France.
http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/348-an-imperial-...
Turns out the Polish areas that were German 100 years ago tend to vote more right wing/centrist than the non-Germanic areas.