Rapacki, Adam (1909–1970)

Polish minister for foreign affairs 1956–68, architect of the plan for the demilitarization of Central Europe (‘Rapacki plan’).

An economist by training, he was a member of the Polish Socialist Party (PSP) until it merged with the Polish United Workers Party (PUWP). Until ill health forced him to withdraw from public life, he was a member of the party's central committee. In 1957, anticipating the US decision to site nuclear warheads in the German Federal Republic (West Germany), Rapacki put forward a proposal for Central Europe to become a nuclear-free zone. He suggested that Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany), and the German Federal Republic make a joint commitment to demilitarization. The plan was dismissed as a Soviet attempt to undermine NATO, and in due course nuclear warheads were stationed in the territory of the German Federal Republic.