Nikita Khrushchev in Szczecin.

On a beautiful, sunny Friday, July 17, 1959, at 11:45 AM, an Il-18 landed at the airport near Szczecin in Goleniów, carrying the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev. This visit—one of three, alongside the city’s visits by John Paul II in 1987 and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988—has permanently become a part of Szczecin’s post-war history. Nikita Khrushchev’s stay in Szczecin is noted by most studies presenting the city’s post-war history, most frequently indicating that it ultimately decided the city’s belonging to Poland. It was recognized as one of the 20 most important events in the city in the second half of the 20th century.

The idea of Nikita Khrushchev visiting Szczecin was tied to the rapidly changing international situation in the second half of the 1950s. Alongside the obvious benefits stemming from the noticeable thaw in international relations at the time, discussions regarding the final territorial shape of Germany became threatening to Poland, as this had not been settled by treaty after the war. The ambiguous stance of the major powers, and even of the German Democratic Republic, caused concern among the Polish authorities. These concerns were not dispelled by rumors regarding the shaky position of the USSR either.

For Władysław Gomułka, securing international confirmation of the western border’s alignment was one of the most important objectives of his policy throughout his fifteen-year period in power. Paradoxically, the escalation of tensions between the major powers against the backdrop of the Berlin crisis that erupted in 1958 opened up new opportunities for Poland. Almost immediately after its onset, Władysław Gomułka, during a visit to Moscow in November 1958, presented Khrushchev with the idea of visiting our country. Upon obtaining consent, Władysław Gomułka formally extended the invitation to visit through the Polish Ambassador to Moscow, Tadeusz Gede, on March 3, 1959.

Discussions lasted for several months until it was agreed in May that the Soviet guest would participate in the celebrations of the fifteenth anniversary of the PKWN Manifesto on July 22. The final version of the visit’s program was approved by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PZPR on July 6. Its key points were to be rallies in Warsaw and Katowice. In addition, Nikita Khrushchev was planned to visit Oświęcim, Dwory, Szczecin, Poznań, the villages of Greater Poland (Pławce, Racot, Stary Gołębin, Jerka), Łańsk, and Rzeszów. From Poznań, two groups of guests (excluding the First Secretary) were to visit Gdańsk, Sopot, and Łódź, as well as Kazimierz nad Wisłą, Puławy, Lublin, and Majdanek. From the Polish perspective, the presence of the Soviet world politician on the western side of the Oder was intended to serve as proof of the USSR’s unchanging stance regarding Poland’s western border.

For all the cities, the visit of such an extraordinary guest was an undoubted distinction, and for the local authorities, an opportunity to present their own achievements and strengthen their position within the power apparatus. Direct preparations for receiving the Soviet guest in Szczecin began in early July; however, the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of People’s Poland organized since the first days of June and the location of the central Days of the Sea in Szczecin allowed for the mobilization of the public and state services. Committees responsible for the course of the visit were established within the Voivodeship and Municipal Committees of the PZPR. The coordinator of the events on a voivodeship scale was Józef Kisielewski, the First Secretary of the PZPR Voivodeship Committee.

The program of Khrushchev’s visit to Szczecin was developed at the Central Committee and did not deviate from ritualistic patterns. It provided for greeting the Soviet guests at the airport in Goleniów, a drive to the headquarters at Wały Chrobrego, a tour of the port on a Navy minesweeper, a formal session of the Municipal National Council, a rally at Jasne Błonia, and an evening reception hosted by the First Secretary of the Voivodeship Committee of the PZPR and the Chairman of the Presidium of the Voivodeship National Council. The following morning, the Soviet delegation was scheduled to depart by train for Poznań.

Not only the staff from Szczecin were involved in the preparations for the event, but also activists from the Nowogard, Goleniów, and Stargard districts, located along the route of the motorcade carrying the Soviet delegation from Goleniów to Szczecin. During the decoration of the city, it was divided into two zones: the streets directly visited by the delegation from the Kremlin and the rest. The former, in particular, were richly decorated. In an enthusiastic report to the Central Committee, the organizers from Szczecin informed that hundreds of Soviet and Polish flags of various sizes were placed on all available utility poles. Over 100 banners with slogans in Polish and Russian were made and placed along the route. Several-meter-large emblems featuring stylized images of an eagle, a Roman numeral XV, a hammer and sickle, and a red star were positioned along the route. The facades of buildings were also decorated, and portraits of Comrades Khrushchev and Gomułka were displayed. Several blank walls were painted, tying the murals thematically to the 15th anniversary of People’s Poland. […] Regardless of traditional decorative elements (flags, portraits, coats of arms), two 300-meter friezes were placed along Jasne Błonia, symbolizing the course of the Oder and Neisse rivers with the names of Polish cities located along them. In order to mobilize the residents of Szczecin to come to the delegation’s route and later to the rally at Jasne Błonia, the working hours of nurseries and kindergartens were extended by three hours, and office working hours were shortened.

A major challenge for the security services was ensuring the safety of the Russians. To secure the visit, 1,280 people were mobilized across the country. In Szczecin, there were fears of a repeat of the incident that had taken place in Silesia two days before Khrushchev’s arrival in Szczecin. On July 15, in the town of Zagórze (between Dąbrowa Górnicza and Sosnowec) located along the planned route of the motorcade carrying the Soviet delegation, an explosion occurred involving a small, amateurishly prepared explosive device planted under a roadside tree. In practice, it did not pose a major threat, but the fact alone prompted greater mobilization of state services. Ultimately, without any obstacles, on Friday, July 17 at 10:20 AM, from the airport of the 39th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the National Air Defense in Mierzęcice, Silesia, the government Il-18 flew north to land with a fifteen-minute delay at 11:45 AM in Goleniów near Szczecin. The Soviet guests were accompanied by Władysław Gomułka, Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Jaroszewicz, the Polish Ambassador to Moscow Tadeusz Gede, and five high-ranking Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.

1. Airport. Nikita Khrushchev in Szczecin. Source of the photograph: State Archive in Szczecin, Document Collection, 24.

On the airport tarmac, in the presence of several thousand gathered spectators, the guests were welcomed by, among others, Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Rapacki, Minister of National Defense Marian Spychalski, Minister of Shipping and Water Economy Stanisław Darski, First Secretaries of the PZPR Voivodeship Committees in Szczecin Józef Kisielewski, in Koszalin Mieczysław Bodalski, and in Zielona Góra Tadeusz Wieczorek, as well as the Municipal Committee in Szczecin Andrzej Grabski, the chairmen of the presidiums of the Voivodeship and Municipal National Councils in Szczecin Włodzimierz Migoń and Jerzy Zieliński, and the commanders of the Navy, Rear Admiral Zdzisław Studziński, the Pomeranian Military District, General Zygmunt Huszcza, and the Szczecin 12th Mechanized Division, General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Already in their welcoming speeches, the speakers referred to the expected confirmation by the Soviet leader of Polish rights to Szczecin.

There is no doubt that—much like throughout the whole of Poland—from the very first moments of his stay on West Pomeranian soil, Nikita Khrushchev aroused the genuine sympathy of the residents. Rising to the rank of a symbol of the visit and the guest’s openness to the public was his choice of the car in which he moved around Szczecin—a large Buick Roadster convertible—and the sight of Khrushchev in a light suit in a black convertible remained in the memory of the event’s participants.

After the official welcomes, the motorcade headed for Szczecin. The drive itself turned out to be a great success for the guest as well as the local organizers of the stay. Despite a delay of over an hour, more than 100,000 residents gathered along the route, and numerous cheers, the showering of the car with flowers, and other expressions of sympathy were certainly spontaneous to a large extent. After checking into the residence at Wały Chrobrego, the Russians toured the port of Szczecin on board the Polish Naval Ship ORP “Łoś”.

Nikita Khrushchev as an Honorary Citizen of the City of Szczecin. The diploma is presented by the Chairman of the Municipal National Council, Jerzy Zieliński. In the background, Władysław Gomułka.

The key points of the visit were the ceremonial session of the City Council featuring the presentation of the title of Honorary Citizen of Szczecin to the Soviet leader, and the rally at Jasne Błonia. The ceremony in the philharmonic hall began at 4:45 PM and lasted quite briefly. In the presence of nearly 400 guests, following the unanimous adoption of the relevant resolution by the City Council, its chairman Jerzy Zieliński presented the guest with a diploma granting him honorary citizenship, and the chairman of the Voivodeship National Council Włodzimierz Migoń awarded him the gold badge of the “Pomeranian Griffin”. Brief speeches were delivered on this occasion by Jerzy Zieliński and the recipient himself. The latter also signed the Golden Book of the City. The ceremony was broadcast to the residents of Szczecin gathered for the rally in the square in front of the municipal authorities building.

A quarter of an hour after the end of the City Council session, at 5:30 PM, the rally began, gathering about 100,000 residents of Szczecin. The vast majority of them had been mandated to attend by the management of workplaces, as well as party, social, and youth organizations. School youth were also brought in, which was no easy task during the summer holidays. Nevertheless, there was certainly no shortage of people who appeared of their own free will, curious to see one of the most powerful men in the world and hear his expected words of support for Poland’s borders.

After listening to the welcoming remarks by the First Secretary of the PZPR Voivodeship Committee Józef Kisielewski, and then Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, the Soviet leader presented his own vision of the current international situation and historical Polish-Russian relations. Drawing upon the tradition of Grunwald, he argued for the enduring foundations of today’s alliance. However, the most important aspects for the listeners were his declarations of readiness to defend Poland’s western borders. They are worth quoting. Opposing the German aspirations for border revision, the speaker stated: there are statesmen in Bonn and not only in Bonn who patronize this revanchist propaganda, inspire this propaganda, declare that they do not recognize Poland’s western border, and even openly demand its revision. These gentlemen have evidently completely lost their sense of reality. They dream of Wrocław turning back into Breslau, Gdańsk into Danzig, and Szczecin into Stettin. Let them know, however, that Wrocław, Gdańsk, and Szczecin are Polish cities and will remain so forever. The historical rights of the Polish nation to the Western Territories, the blood jointly shed by Us for their liberation, the immense work put by the Polish nation into their reconstruction—all of this is sacred, and no one will be allowed to mock it. He further declared that Poland has “such faithful allies as the USSR and all the countries of the socialist camp. They will defend the borders of People’s Poland as their own borders. […] The border posts on the Oder and Neisse will be defended by all of us, shoulder to shoulder with the Polish nation.”

Nikita Khrushchev is speaking. Władysław Gomułka is on the side.

Khrushchev’s words sparked enthusiasm among the gathered rally participants. It appears that the applause exceeded the authorities’ expectations. During the preparations for the rally, various groups of participants were assigned different roles. A two-thousand-strong team of Socialist Youth Union (ZMS) activists brought in from across the voivodeship was responsible for generating expressions of delight. They fulfilled their task, with chants coming most frequently from their side, but other groups also eagerly cheered upon hearing the expected promises. The rally concluded with a resounding rendition of “Sto lat” (May you live a hundred years).

These points of Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Szczecin can be considered a major success for Poland and the city. Things were worse with the subsequent ones. The local authorities expected a lot from the banquet, which was to take place at 8:00 PM in the conference hall of the PZPR Voivodeship Committee. Invitations were sent to about 200 people, primarily representatives of the diplomatic corps, the party apparatus, the management staff of workplaces, the military, and the militia. In the draft of the toast, the First Secretary of the PZPR Voivodeship Committee intended to once again emphasize the Soviet commitments announced at Jasne Błonia. By order of the central authorities, the decision regarding the course of the reception was changed six times, ultimately canceling it, and the Soviet guests spent the evening among themselves.

The morning farewell was also rather unimpressive. Instead of renewed rows of people along the short route from Wały Chrobrego to the main railway station, only a few individuals greeted the Soviet delegation. A crowd of five thousand appeared only in front of the station hall. The customary farewells were delivered by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Voivodeship National Council, Włodzimierz Migoń, and—much like during the welcome at the airport in Goleniów—M. J. Šumauskas. Finally, in four short sentences, Nikita Khrushchev promised to visit Szczecin again. The authorities blamed the residents’ disregard of Nikita Khrushchev’s departure on the early hour of the trip and fears that, just like the day before, they would have to wait a long time for the guests’ transit. It seems that the farewell ceremony was simply not prepared, and explaining it away with objective factors was intended to prevent accusing the organizers from Szczecin of negligence.

It is safe to assume that a few minutes before eight o’clock, when the special train carrying the First Secretaries of the CPSU and PZPR Central Committees along with their entourages left the Szczecin railway station, local political leaders felt a tremendous sense of relief. They had recorded a major success while avoiding any major oversights. They could feel a stronger legitimacy to exercise power, both in the eyes of their central superiors and the public. In this context, it is somewhat surprising that almost the day after it ended, the topic of the visit ceased to exist in public life. Although the residents themselves discussed it for quite some time, officially, interest in it was quickly and completely lost. The only mention referring to the presence of the Soviet Prime Minister at the mouth of the Oder was a communique published on July 25 regarding the transfer [of something] to Szczecin dockworkers

of a Rubin-102 television set by the USSR Consul in Szczecin, Igor Skachkov, as a gift from Nikita Khrushchev. A broader reflection of the July 1959 visit only appeared in the pages of “Kurier Szczeciński” almost forty years later, on the eve of a visit to the capital of West Pomerania by one of Khrushchev’s successors, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Despite the great importance attached to Nikita Khrushchev’s visit by the residents of the city and region, it cannot be said that it was of significant importance for the international confirmation of Polish rights to Szczecin. Neither Polish nor Soviet diplomacy referred to it, nor did it appear in Polish propaganda. It seems that its greatest role was played in convincing the residents of Western Pomerania of the permanence of the Polish presence at the mouth of the Oder.

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Źródło wszystkich fotografii: APS, Zbiór fotografii, 24.

Adam Makowski, Nikita Chruszczow w Szczecinie. Historyczna wizyta czy historyczne okoliczności?, „Przegląd Historyczny” 2014, z. 2, s. 161-195.

Adam Makowski