Exactly, that’s one of the most overlooked parts of the Earth, but if you consider the GDP growth rate over the last 30 years, Poland is second only to China.
I believe there was a long period (decade) of economic depression, entry into the EU then opened up a huge new market for former Warsaw Pact countries. It is worth noting that East / Central Europe economic development remains very uneven - Romania, Bulgaria both pretty much economic basket cases
Germany has helped push development there (as has the US to a lesser degree) by investing in manufacturing and taking advantage of their labor force(s). Modernizing existing factories helped.
Im more about "East Asia is the only region which was certainly 'poor' but now can be described as somewhat 'rich',"
Romania and other parts of south Eastern Europe were quite poor.
Yes thats why im showing post commie east europe as example of countires that was poor and are "rich" today