This article traces the development of the Polish civic imaginary, from one generation to the next, from the 1945 introduction of the communist regime to the presidential elections in 1995, which saw a shift away from the Solidarity hero L. Walesa towards a young ex-communist president S. Kwasniewski, a convert to the virtues of democratic liberalism. Continuities and ruptures in the representation of civic space are examined in light of the positions adopted by each new generation of young citizens faced with the dynamic of ecological transitions punctuated by major political changes.