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“The Reality of Vietnam Is Full of Paradoxes....”: The Escalation of the Vietnam War in 1965 in the Light of Confidential Reports by Polish Press Correspondents
Jarema Słowiak
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3104-4415
Uniwersytet Jagielloński
BioJAREMA SŁOWIAK – Dr., Assistant Professor at the Chair of Contemporary History, Institute of History, Jagiellonian University. His research interests focus on the Cold War period, particularly the Vietnam War, and Poland’s multifaceted activities in the background of this conflict.
Komunizm: system-ludzie-dokumentacja, No. 14 (2025), pages: 223-247
Publication date: 2025-12-31
https://doi.org/10.48261/2299.890X.14.2025.09
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Abstract
In March 1965, the Vietnam War escalated — American air raids on North Vietnam began as part of Operation Rolling Thunder, and the first regular US military units landed in South Vietnam. The developments were followed with concern in Warsaw, as the leadership of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) feared that the local conflict might turn into a global war. At the turn of March and April 1965, two Polish journalists, Stanisław Barteczko and Daniel Luliński, were staying in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. They prepared secret reports for the highest authorities of the Polish United Workers’ Party, describing the internal situation in the country and the effects of the first few weeks of American air raids. Today, these documents constitute a valuable source of information on the internal situation in North Vietnam in the early stages of the confrontation with the United States. Although they present a Communist perspective, they contain considerably less propaganda than most of the accounts and descriptions produced by North Vietnam’s allies and the Vietnamese themselves.
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