Polska w okresie przełomu październikowego 1956 roku
Poland during the Breakthrough of October 1956

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the attitude of West Germany’s government led by Konrad Adenauer towards Poland at the time of the breakthrough of October 1956. This was a serious challenge for the FRG as in September 1955 it established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, but the challenge was no smaller for Warsaw, where the course of events was generated by the changes in Moscow. The attitude of the FRG to the ongoing developments was important in the sense of an opportunity of finding a solution in mutual contacts. K. Adenauer, in spite of the opinions of allies did not believe in changes in Poland that could make Warsaw permanently independent of Moscow. However, he had to undertake some measures so as not to be accused of passivity in the face of what was seen as revolutionary changes in Warsaw. The more obscure the stance and changes within the satellite states of the Soviet Union, the more the FRG did not know how to find its way in the new situation. This is the framework for interpreting the behaviour of K. Adenauer or his minister Heinrich von Brentano from May 1956 onward. It is difficult to determine univocally when the federal government ceased to be interested in the developments in Warsaw. The latest date possible seems to be the period of severing diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia.

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