Except for the Korean War and the Indochina conflict, during the Stalinist period, the non-European scene was of little interest to Warsaw. Political changes in Moscow and Warsaw in 1956 led to the political and economic opening of the PRL to non-communist Third World countries. It was considered a priority in Warsaw, in line with USSR policy, to develop good relations with India, Myanmar, Egypt and Afghanistan, followed by Syria and Indonesia. The rise in the international standing of PRL as a result of October 1956 facilitated Warsaw’s contacts with Third World countries, most of which were not interested in “building socialism” in its Soviet version, but wanted economic and military aid from the Kremlin. Support for national liberation movements in the colonies was one of the foreign policy goals of PRL. Władysław Gomułka, however, was pragmatic when it came to establishing contacts with countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and restrained in terms of providing them with economic aid.

In this article, the author identifies the objectives and tasks of Polish foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa between 1944 and 1989. This policy began to be formulated after 1956, when independent states were established in this area as a result of decolonisation. In the first period, this foreign policy was based on ideological foundations, i.e. preference was given to states that were either communist or leftist. Later, as a result of political instability, namely the numerous political and military coups in Black Africa, it is possible to note both ideological and pragmatic objectives in the discussed policy, which referred, for example, to Poland’s economic interests, including trade.The basic objectives of the policyof communist Poland towards sub-Saharan Africa included  the  following  tasks:  1.  undertaking  extensive  diplomatic  and  ideological  action to promote anti-Western forces; 2. providing technical assistance in the form of the secondment of doctors, engineers and skilled craftsmen; 3. awarding scholarships for African youth to study at selected universities; 4. establishing organisations with communist or leftist orientations, with the goal of penetrating local and regional trade unions. At the same time, efforts were made to avoid providing direct aid in the form of grants or loans.

The aim of this article is to present the current state of research dedicated to the relations of communist states with the Global South and to present the experience of PRL in this respect. During the Cold War, the countries of the Soviet bloc maintained very active relations with Third World states and national liberation movements. These contacts, initiated in the mid-1950s, were of varied nature and concerned political, military, economic and socio-cultural cooperation. The Soviet Union played the lead role in these relations,  but  countries  under  Moscow’s  tutelage  –  notably  the  GDR,  Czechoslovakia,  Yugoslavia and Romania – also sought to be present in the Third World. Warsaw also pursued  an  active  policy  towards  the  states  and  national  liberation  movements  of  the  Global South, although its strategy differed from the conduct of other communist countries. The involvement of PRL was more cautious and more, than in the case of other countries, focused on economic benefits. The review of the state of research shows that a lot is already known about communist Poland’s policy towards the Third World, but many areas remain poorly researched. The gaps in our knowledge that still remain may inspire future research dedicated to the relations between the Communist bloc and the Global South.

The article examines the historical breaks and continuities in the Polish state’s policies toward  (de)colonial  Africa,  underlining  the  persistence  of  the  economic  and  cultural  factors therein. It is argued that during the period after World War II, Warsaw managed to exercise considerable autonomy in its approach to independent states and rebellious colonies on the continent, despite ideological and political pressure from Moscow. In this manner, the article reconsiders the role of the Polish (People’s) Republic in the international socialist project in the Global South and recommends further research, both on the period of 1945–1964 and later years.

The aim of the article is to analyse documents concerning the Organisation of African Unity that were created in Department V and Department II of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Polish People’s Republic in the years 1963–1989. Polish diplomats, since the creation of the OAU, were monitoring the organization’s activities in the context of changes taking place on the African continent. The 1960s and 1970s were a period of hope for the intensive development of African integration and relations between the newly established states and socialist countries. Poland, like other socialist countries, with the USSR  at  the  forefront,  perceived  Africa  as  an  area  of  a two-bloc  rivalry  with  Western  countries. The interest of Polish diplomats in the OAU and Africa decreased significantly in the 1980s due to the political and economic crisis in Poland and the socio-economic problems on the African continent.

The aim of the article is to present the involvement of Poles in peacekeeping missions in Sub-Saharan Africa. The introduction characterises the significance of peacekeeping missions  and  their  distinctive  features.  Attention  is  drawn  to  controversies  surrounding  such  operations  in  the  postcolonial  world  in  the  context  of  the  Cold  War  rivalry  between superpowers and the functioning of the United Nations. The participation of Poles in three missions is then discussed: in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Namibia. The article ends with a comparative analysis of the factors determining participation in operations (institutional and political determinants and – to a lesser extent – individual motives), as well as showing the evolution of the forms of involvement of Poles: from observers in Nigeria, through participants in a humanitarian mission in Ethiopia, to experts and logistics specialists in Namibia.

In this paper I examine the relations between Albania with Libya, especially after the establishment of the Gaddafi’s regime and its peculiar brand of socialism. In doing so this paper proceeds in two directions. First, I examine foreign relations among small countries, in this case Albania and Libya. Secondly, I examine the above-mentioned relations in terms of ideological constrictions, especially from the perspective of a country like Albania, which practised, from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties, forms of self-isolation and insulation from the outer world in the name of its particular view of Marxism-Leninism and socialism.

Until 1990, the GDR had varying degrees of bilateral ties with Cambodia: friendly-constructive during the rule of Sihanouk for ten months in 1969/1970; very distant between 1970 and 1974; none at all and outright hostility under Pol Pot between 1975 and  1979;  and  finally  relatively  close  but  restricted  by  the  Vietnamese  side  between  1979 and 1990. Unlike other socialist countries, the GDR was able to establish contacts with Cambodia only belatedly due to the West German strategy of isolating the GDR diplomatically  between  1955  and  1969.  Once  those  hard-fought  ties  were  achieved,  however,  the  relationship  between  the  GDR  and  Cambodia  over  the  next  20  years  resembled a  roller  coaster  ride  due  to  the  Sino-Soviet  Conflict  and,  as  a result,  the  divergent interests and policies of Cambodia’s changing patrons, namely Vietnam and China. The GDR was rather subject to these currents than being able to shape them in any significant way.

The article’s author shows how Wojciech Jaruzelski’s direct contacts with Kim Il Sung affected the state of relations between communist Poland and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Jaruzelski first travelled to North Korea in 1977 and it seems that his positive attitude towards the country began to take shape after this visit. Indeed, in the conclusion  of  his  report,  he  recommended  deepening  multifaceted  cooperation  with  North  Korea.  In  the  1980s,  as  the  PRL  leader,  he  was  already  shaping  national  policy  towards Pyongyang. In 1984, he received Kim Il Sung in Poland, and in 1986 he travelled to North Korea as the only First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party in the history of communist Poland to do so. He was highly feted there and signed a friendship and cooperation treaty, formally raising relations with the DPRK to the highest possible level. Under his leadership, Poland responded positively to almost all initiatives from the North Korean authorities, resulting in very intensive bilateral contacts in the second half of the 1980s. These contacts were only curtailed as a result of the democratic changes initiated in Poland in 1989.

The article presents the conditions and scope of non-refundable military aid provided by PRL to states and national liberation movements in the Third World. Available documents show that during the Cold War the authorities in Warsaw – compared to other Soviet bloc countries, especially Czechoslovakia and the GDR – pursued a fairly limited policy of arming state and non-state actors in the Global South. This policy was manifested by a cautious approach to requests for the free transfer of armaments and in the thorough investigation by the communist authorities of the position of other socialist countries before deciding on arms shipments. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam received the most aid – it was systematically equipped with modern military equipment between 1965 and 1975. Aid was also provided, to a much lesser extent, to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, Ethiopia and Nicaragua, as well as to national liberation movements such as SWAPO, MPLA, PAIGC, FRELIMO and ZAPU. Free military aid was not treated by the communist authorities as a strategic tool for building influence in the Third World.

After World War II, the priorities of the Salesian Inspectorate of Cracow were: reincorporating the brothers living outside the structures of the Salesian Society into the order’s communities  and  launching  didactic  and  educational  institutions  for  boys  and  young men.  Then,  to  compensate  for  properties  left  behind  in  the  former  eastern  territories  of  Poland,  the  priority  became  the  opening  of  new  Salesian  centres  in  the  Recovered  Territories. An important challenge for the province was assigning priests to new pastoral work, especially in Lower Silesia.The first school (which was also a pastoral and pilgrimage centre), was organized by the Salesians in Twardogóra in 1945. Some priests settled near vacant village churches in Wrocław Voivodeship, in time forming new communities of their order. In this way they established three parishes / monastic houses in Wrocław and three others, following the example of the first in Twardogóra): in Lubin, Środa Śląska and Sułów. Due to the liquidation of Catholic education by the communist state authorities, more priests were systematically assigned to work in general pastoral ministry. Thanks to the dedicated work of these post WWII Salesian pioneers, many damaged churches were rebuilt, abandoned Protestant churches were adapted to the needs of Catholic worship and a few new churches were built. After the collapse of communism in Poland, the Salesians in Lower  Silesia  resumed  activities  connected  with  their  traditional  Salesian  vocation,  namely the running of various types of schools and dormitories. The Salesian Society is continuing to grow in the described area, now known as the Inspectorate of Don Bosco, with its base in Wrocław.

This article discusses the dismantling of the customs administration in 1917–1919, evacuated from the Kingdom of Poland further inland into Russia in 1914. On the basis of archival and published sources the author presents the process of the slow break-up  of  the  structure  of  the  customs  offices.  This  process  initiated  by  the Provisional  Government  was  continued  by  the  Bolshevik authorities.  Some  offices  were  closed  down while some of them were absorbed by the Soviet structure of customs administration agencies.

The aim of this article is to reconstruct, describe and explain the context in which representatives of the Polish Olympic movement took up the concept of the Central European Games under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee, as well as to answer the question about why this initiative, despite its potential importance for the development of the Olympic movement and its consequences in international politics, failed. The source base consisted mainly of archival documents stored in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, the Central Military Archives in Warsaw and the Olympic Studies Center in Lausanne. The article established that the concept of the Central European Games, put forward in 1920 by Elwood Brown, was promoted in 1921–1922 by Polish Olympic movement activists Stefan Lubomirski and Edward Wittig, but did not gain the backing of members of the IOC, including Pierre de Coubertin himself, causing the project to eventually collapse. The reasons for the failure of the project were determined to be a lack of trust in Poland as a relatively new member of the IOC, doubts as to the apolitical character of the project, fears about its usefulness in the Olympic movement and the possible downgrading of the Olympic Games, and finally concern over the political repercussions in Central and Eastern Europe in the event of the successful completion of the project.

Between 1965 and 1973, the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigsburg (Germany) investigated the crime committed on 8 September 1939 against Polish soldiers near Ciepielów. In the course of the investigation, three officers and dozens of soldiers of the 29th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht were questioned. The investigation did not produce a breakthrough in reconstructing the events and even led to doubts about, among other things, the fact that one of the photographs, believed to document the crime, shows Lt Col Walter Wessel - according to some witnesses, it showed a Lt Col Walter Fries. The people interrogated denied the claim that Polish prisoners had been murdered, which should be seen as a course of action aimed at avoiding responsibility for the crime. Through the lens of the investigation in question, it is possible to take a closer look at the mechanisms of the German justice system and its attitude towards accounting for Nazi crimes against prisoners of war during World War II. German historiography is very critical of the German state’s reckoning (also after reunification) with its Nazi past.

This article is devoted to a case study of the Nazi prosecutor Josef Abbott held criminally liable before a Polish court for his activities in the Polish territories occupied by Germany during  World  War  II.  In  the  introduction,  the  problem  of  the  criminal  liability  of  the  Third Reich’s lawyers is outlined, drawing attention to the different approaches used by the German Federal Republic and in the German Democratic Republic. This is followed by a look into Abbott’s life story, and an outline of the Special Court in Gdańsk (before which Abbott was the prosecutor) and of that Court’s president, who, despite the best efforts of Polish authorities, was not extradited. The most important element of this study is the discussion of the process against Abbott, which took place in the years 1949–1950. Special attention has been paid to the evidence gathered and its evaluation by the Polish court, as a result of which the defendant’s line of defence was rejected. The value of the case is that, against the background of the few examples of legally valid convictions of Third Reich lawyers, this one is distinguished by the provisions applied as the legal basis for the conviction and, consequently, by the adopted model of such lawyers’ liability.

The Warsaw Uprising in 1944 ended in defeat. However, amongst Poles, the memory of the battle fought by the capital remained extremely strong and affected later attitudes. It protected identity and helped to survive the period of Soviet subjugation. Symbols of this memory included the anchor (the sign of the Polish Underground State), uprising songs, graves and cemeteries, the passing on of the testimony of the insurgents’ heroism and patriotism to posterity, and participation in anniversary celebrations. Today, the next generation of young Poles are taking over the duty of remembrance from their parents and grandparents and even identifying with the past generation, recognising the tragic experiences as their own. However, they are increasingly shifting their focus to new areas resulting from cultural changes, caused above all by the onslaught of information technology and the virtual world. The memory of the Warsaw Uprising, however, because of its emotional nature, also remains present in contemporary political life.The  author  of  this  article  discusses  the  transformations  taking  place  in  collective  memory.  He  identifies  new  phenomena  regarding  modes  of  representation,  as  well  as  new roles of the Warsaw Uprising in public discourse.

The Warsaw Uprising in 1944 ended in defeat. However, amongst Poles, the memory of the battle fought by the capital remained extremely strong and affected later attitudes. It protected identity and helped to survive the period of Soviet subjugation. Symbols of this memory included the anchor (the sign of the Polish Underground State), uprising songs, graves and cemeteries, the passing on of the testimony of the insurgents’ heroism and patriotism to posterity, and participation in anniversary celebrations. Today, the next generation of young Poles are taking over the duty of remembrance from their parents and grandparents and even identifying with the past generation, recognising the tragic experiences as their own. However, they are increasingly shifting their focus to new areas resulting from cultural changes, caused above all by the onslaught of information tech- nology and the virtual world. The memory of the Warsaw Uprising, however, because of its emotional nature, also remains present in contemporary political life. The author of this article discusses the transformations taking place in collective memory. He identifies new phenomena regarding modes of representation, as well as new roles of the Warsaw Uprising in public discourse.

After the end of World War II, the security apparatus took action against the soldiers of the Polish independence underground. From 1947, Ewaryst Zwierzewicz, who during the German occupation carried out the duties of the commander of District IX Łódź of the National Armed Forces, was subjected to investigation by the Voivodeship Office of Public Security in Łódź. Communist repressions against the hero of the above article culminated in his arrest and conviction by the Voivodeship Court in Zielona Góra in 1954.The aim of this article is to analyse Zwierzewicz’s testimony, which was written during the investigation conducted against him by officers of the Voivodeship Office of Public Security  in  Zielona  Góra.  The  testimony  constitutes  noteworthy  archival  material,  as  the hero of the article played a special role in both the pre-war and wartime history of Łódź. The source reveals a lot of hitherto unknown information about the soldiers of the national underground, which opens up a wide range of new research possibilities. Apart from the analysis of the testimony’s structure, the subject of this article was also the comparison of its content with other archival materials and with the literature on the subject. As a result of the research carried out, on the basis of Zwierzewicz’s testimony it was possible to reconstruct the life of the hero of the article, as well as three selected stories from his life.

The research objectives of this article are to analyse one form of international philan-thropy undertaken by two American private foundations: the Rockefeller and the Ford foundations. It poses questions about the possible impact the exchange programs directed to Poland in the early Cold War period had upon the opening of research opportunities to catch up with peers in the West. The article covers the time span between the first visit of the Rockefeller Foundation representatives and the year when both temporarily withdrew or suspended their extensive programs. The method of critically analysing archival documents of both foundations made it possible to explore the circumstances of their engagement, candidate selection procedures, and the different approaches to achieving set goals. It reveals that the Rockefeller Foundation focused on scientific results, leading to the ‘cross-fertilization’ of ideas, network creation, and the opening up opportunities, while  the  Ford  Foundation  aimed  at  long-term  cultural  diplomacy,  impacting  upon  groups of ‘friendly’ recipients. The article explores several case studies of Polish grantees, showing the foundations’ non-discriminatory practices based on merit and the role these  grantees  might  have  exercised  in  the  development  of  science,  strengthening  the  free world, and promoting international understanding.

The  article  presents  the  economic  aspects  of  Polish-British  relations  in  the  1970s.  Archival sources used were based on “Polish Diplomatic Documents”, a publication of sources. The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 1970s was Poland’s most  important Western  economic  partner.  Relations  between  the  two  countries  at  that  time  were  influenced, among other factors, by British accession to the EEC. Over time, however, Albion lost its leadership position, as Poland’s chief Western economic partner, to West Germany. The article provides an answer to the question about the reasons for this change. The article consists of four parts. First, the basics of economic cooperation are discussed. The bilateral and multilateral factors influencing cooperation are then presented. The next part is devoted to trade between Poland and the UK, particularly its volume and structure. PRL authorities were attempting during the discussed period to rectify Poland’s negative trade balance, as well as the structure of this trade, which was a manifestation of the underdevelopment of the Polish economy. In subsequent parts, the article discusses the role of two symbols of Gierek’s rule in the 1970s (and which came about as a result of the economic relations between Poland and the UK), namely the purchase of licenses and the taking out of loans, the latter of which led to Poland’s debt crisis.

Brazil – somewhat in spite of its remote geographic location – played a considerable role in the diplomacy of the Second Republic. This role increased even more after 1939 in connection with the war. Indeed, South America became an area of diplomatic struggle between the Axis states and the Western powers. Brazil – ruled since 1930 by President Getúlio Vargas – hesitated for a long time before it joined the conflict on the side of the Allies in 1942. After its entry, the attitude of the country’s authorities towards the Soviets, hitherto strongly critical, changed. The Polish representative in Rio de Janeiro, Tadeusz Skowroński, observed these events. In 1945, the country under the Southern Cross was already heading straight into the arms of Moscow, withdrawing its previous support for what was known as the Polish cause. At the same time, the head of the Polish legation was sinking into political defeatism, seeing no prospect of reversing these trends, especially as Vargas’s authoritarian dictatorship was clearly weakening.

This  article  contains  an  edition  of  a text  written  by  the  Main  Political  Board  of  the  armed forces of communist Poland, intended for use by the political officers of the Polish “People’s” Army in their contact with soldiers. The document, created prior to Pope John Paul II’s visit to Poland, contains the opinions expressed by the authorities in Warsaw about the Vatican and its relations with Poland, the piety of Poles and the allegedly conciliatory attitude of Primate Józef Glemp towards the communist authorities. The published text reveals the methods used to shape the desired political views of soldiers during the difficult period for the authorities that was the 1980s.