This was Panufnik’s final Warsaw address. He was allocated the luxury apartment by the authorities in March 1954 and began to furnish it, even though at that time all his energies were being devoted to making plans for his escape from Poland. This is how he describes in his autobiography the last moments spent at the apartment:

I paused for a moment before shutting the door behind me for the last time. Once my defection was known, the flat would undoubtedly be raided by the UB (Polish Secret Police). I decided that they deserved a pleasant sight to greet their eyes as they broke in, so I opened the flap of my desk, and carefully arranged on it all the medals awarded to me by the Government of People’s Poland: my two State Laureate medallion, and the highest decoration of the land, the Standard of Labour, First Class. Playing with them for a few moments, I tried to find the most effective triangular pattern to delight the future intruders. The sun seemed to reflect my defiance: a shaft of light set the medals aglow just as I turned away.