Polish diplomat Czesław Miłosz elects for voluntary exile and is offered refuge in the Institute where he stays for some 12 months. He publishes his article “Nie” (No) in the May issue of Kultura, setting out his motives for staying in the West, and begins writing The Captive Mind. Henryk Giedroyc (Jerzy’s brother) joins the team at Maisons-Laffitte. Jerzy Prądzyński becomes Kultura’s Berlin correspondent.
POLAND
Władysław Gomułka is arrested.
The 3 May National Holiday is removed from the annual holiday calendar.
Execution of Zygmunt Szendzielarz – legendary anti-Nazi and anti-communist partisan.
WORLD
First H-bomb is tested in Pacific.
Radio Free Europe begins broadcasts into the Eastern Bloc.
Festival of Britain.
San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan.
First colour television.
