Playing “second fiddle”? Poland in the global Cold War – 1956-1970

Twenty years ago, Antoni Czubiński called the period between 1944 and 1989 a “black hole” in Polish history.1 Since then, substantial progress has been made. However, the historiography often offers only fragmentary analysis. The Gomułka years of 1956-1970 fell into even more significant and undeserved obscurity. Western and Polish scholarly efforts have focused on the historical extremities. Western historians also tend to focus on the tumultuous period when Polish communists rose to power and initiated a campaign of ethnic cleansing.2 Equally, there are great studies on the decade that preceded the fall of communism in Poland.3 The period between only recently began to be explored. However, in 1956, Polish communists launched a project to transform almost every aspect of Poland's political, social, cultural and economic life. The Polish leadership wanted to transform Poland into the second most economically dynamic, militarily powerful and diplomatically active country of the Soviet Bloc... .