On several tens of meters, people line up outside Tuesday, in front of one of the offices of passports of Warsaw. Paperwork under the arm, the crowd is diverse: young people, workers or even the elderly. All intend to obtain or renew their passports. A phenomenon that extends to the whole of Poland: for many of them, it is a question of obtaining documents in order to be able to flee the country as quickly as possible, “just in case”.
At this time of year, many Poles apply for a passport for the Easter holidays. But since the war raged in Ukraine, the crowds have increased tenfold. In the Subcarpathian region alone, for example, in the south of the country, the demand for obtaining a passport increased by 425% from February 24, the day the Russian invasion began. .
Because the war raging in the neighboring country is causing concern in Poland: many of them fear that their territory is in Vladimir Putin’s line of sight, after Ukraine.
Ewelina, who prefers to conceal her surname to preserve her identity, does not rule out the threat in any case. And this, even if her country has been a member of NATO since 1999, and of the European Union since 2004. Wrapped up in her big coat, this 35-year-old Warsaw woman is in line in front of the passport office in the city center of the capital city. “It is to ensure my peace of mind that I take these steps. My husband and children have one, but I don’t,” she explains. “I am a teacher and in my class there are five Ukrainian children who talk about their grandparents being shot in their country. We are dealing with a leader without limits who raises his hand on children. »
The majority fear an attack
Preparing for any eventuality is also the reason that brought Agata, 37, to the building. She, too, fears that Moscow will launch military aggression on her country, which broke free from the clutches of the Eastern bloc more than thirty years ago. “I have two children, two months and three years old, and we don’t know how the situation will develop. So we prefer to be ready to go. When I see these Ukrainian mothers who have to flee, I tell myself that we could be next after Ukraine. It is impossible to predict. »
In case the war spilled over into Polish territory, she thought of going west, to Germany perhaps. “Never in my life did I think we would be in a situation like this. Let’s just hope for peace,” she continues.
It must be said that no less than 71.1% of Poles believe that Russia could attack their country, according to a poll by SW Research published by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita February 24. A fear which is added to a certain mistrust, historical, of Poland vis-a-vis Russia. “The Russian threat is anything but abstract for the Poles. Russian projectiles even recently fell 60 kilometers from the Polish border, and the hundreds of thousands of refugees coming to Poland [depuis le début de l’invasion] make this risk very concrete”, explains Piotr Buras, political scientist and director of the think tank of the European Council on International Relations, in Warsaw.
“But there is a deeper reason for this fear: Poland has been a victim of Russian imperialism in the past. The Russians were occupiers and aggressors in the 19and and XXand centuries. This memory is not only very vivid, but also constitutive of the Polish national identity. Now all those nightmares of the past seem to be coming true again. »
Worry
Met in front of the passport office, Jerzy and Hanna Lewczuk, 70 and 68, are preparing for the worst. This retired couple admits to drawing up a list of emergency equipment: sleeping bag, water, medicine, food, phone charges, documents… Military training in hand, Jerzy follows the evolution of the war seriously, in particular the resistance. of the Ukrainian army. “I would like to be able to provide weapons, but the law forbids me to do so,” he quips.
Except that the green light given by Poland, on Tuesday March 8, to send Mig-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian army – Soviet-era machines that Ukrainian soldiers are able to fly – however, has reason to worry Jerzy. “I am for the fact that we provide them with these planes. All the same, the risk behind it is to generate a third world war. Even if, when we look more closely, we see that it is already at our doorstep. »
Sign of the anxiety born of the war in Ukraine, in the days following the invasion, service stations were attacked by impressive lines of cars. And in the border town of Przemyśl, fifteen kilometers from Ukraine, many also rushed to ATMs to withdraw money from the first day of the attack, observed on the spot The duty.
Exhausted iodine tablets
In her small pharmacy in Muranów, a district in the center of Warsaw, Anita Kowalewska saw a certain anguish pass after twelve days of conflict. “People bought bandages and other medicines, painkillers en masse…” This pharmacist herself took precautions: “I changed zlotys [la devise polonaise] in dollars. I have to redo my passport too, it is no longer valid. I also stocked up on fuel, in our garage there are 60 liters stored in jerrycans. My mother has a big cellar full of food. It’s so that we’re ready, just in case. I come from a family that historically is very afraid of Russia. My family comes from the Lviv region [une ville de l’ouest ukrainien]. »
Like many pharmacies, his is out of stock of iodine: intended to prevent thyroid cancer in the event of radioactivity, the substance sold in the form of tablets, among others, was completely sold out on the first day of the invasion, says Anita Kowalewska. Even if we are far from general panic for the moment, the nuclear risk is not taken lightly by many Poles.
In the back room, they are preparing to concoct iodized preparations based on alcohol and concentrated iodine. “In case the conflict escalates here,” she explains, white coat on her back. “We will make our own containers that we can then sell to our customers. At worst, they will be useless. If there is no more Ukraine, we are at the forefront of Russian aggression. These iodine preparations we normally do not have the right to sell, except on prescription. But in time of war, what good are prescriptions! »