key member of Rapacki’s core team, alongside Manfred Lachs, in charge of the political department within the ministry, and Henryk Birecki, head of the legal department. He is noted as being one of the masterminds behind the contents of the Rapacki Plan. Władysław Gomułka In 1956, Władysław Gomułka was put in power as the leader of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) after having been one of Poland’s key post-war politicians. He used his position to assert Poland’s independence from the Soviet Union and Warsaw pact, which included his sponsorship of Rapacki’s denuclearization plan in 1957, despite a less-than-intimate relationship with Rapacki himself. While Gomulka’s policies were eventually approved by Moscow, his aggressive style of independence in pursuing programs like the Rapacki Plan later soured his relations with fellow Warsaw Pact leaders. Legacy Gomułka Plan After 1958, Poland persisted in its attempts to create a nuclear free zone in central Europe. In December 1963, Poland proposed the unsuccessful Gomułka Plan, which sought to halt further nuclear proliferation in the same Central European region as the Rapacki Plan. Future Disarmament Despite the fact that both the Rapacki and Gomułka plans were rejected, scholars argue that both contributed to the discussion on nuclear disarmament between the Cold War superpowers and had an impact on the adjacent topics of nuclear test bans and East-West non-aggression pacts. Eventually, the discussion culminated in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 and the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty in 1990. References Further reading Albrecht, Ulrich, and Michel Vale. "The Political Background of the Rapacki Plan of 1957 and Its Current Significance." International Journal of Politics 13.1/2 (1983): 117–133. Kourkouvelas, Lykourgos. "Denuclearization on NATO's Southern Front." Journal of Cold War Studies (2012) 14#4 pp 197–215. Ozinga, James R., The Rapacki Plan: the 1957 Proposal to Denuclearize Central Europe, and an Analysis of Its Rejection, (McFarland & Co, 1989), . Pasztor, Maria. "France, Great Britain, and Polish conceptions of disarmament, 1957-1964." Acta Poloniae Historica 90 (2004): 113–155. online Rapacki, Adam. "The Polish Plan for a Nuclear-Free Zone Today" International Affairs 39#1 pp. 1–12 online, a primary source. Stefancic, David. "The Rapacki Plan: A Case Study of European Diplomacy." East European Quarterly 21.4 (1987): 401–412. online External Links Rapacki Plan 14th February 1958 One of the drafts of the Rapacki Plan from February 14th 1958 Polish Disarmament Proposals Summary of the Gomułka plan Cold War Polish People's Republic