Northern (N): Poland (NP). Celebrations and Anniversaries

A file of correspondence and press extracts on public events and holidays in Poland. The file reports the separate plans of the Polish government and the Catholic Church to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the Polish state, the government focusing on the position of the early Polish state, which supported Poland's current western frontier, and the church stressing the importance of conversion to Christianity in forming Polish national identity. Other events reported include the May Day celebrations; the 140th anniversary of the founding of Warsaw University; the fourteenth anniversaries of Poland's "National Liberation" and of the Warsaw Uprising; and a reception in the Soviet embassy on the anniversary of the October Revolution. The file discusses the anti-Western speeches made by the Polish leader, Władysław Gomułka; the population's lack of interest in parades and speeches; and the personality of the Soviet ambassador to Poland, Pyotr Abrasimov.