Utopia and Tradition in the Reconstruction of Warsaw after 1945
Even during the Second World War, Warsaw had already become a symbol of a new kind of systematic destruction—both of people and buildings. This article explores how, out of that devastation, a vision for a new city began to emerge.
The planned destruction of cities was one of the hallmarks of the Second World War. Throughout history, we find countless examples of wars being waged against cities. However, the targeted deployment of the air forces and a genocidal policy implemented by the Germans that aimed at destroying certain population groups, the likes of which had never been seen before, saw the destruction of urban areas during this war reach a new dimension.
While the images of destroyed cities appear similar at first glance, the intentions of the different warring parties and therefore the consequences for the respective urban populations differed considerably. The first thing to mention here is the fact that warfare under National Socialism overstepped many of the limits it had previously known. As far as air warfare was concerned, this began with the destruction of
Guernica
did not exist in the West.
Bombing of Guernica
Bombing of the small town of Guernica (Gernika) in the Basque Country by the German air force unit “Legion Condor” with the participation of aircraft from the Italian air force on April 26, 1937 as part of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The number of victims is still disputed today, with estimates ranging from a few hundred to four figures. The events have been depicted in many works of art, the most famous being Pablo Picasso's (1881–1973) monumental painting “Guernica”, created in the same year.
during the Spanish Civil War in April 1937 and continued on the morning of September 1, 1939, with the destruction of the small Polish town of
Wieluń
Bombing of Wieluń
German Luftwaffe attack on the small Polish town of Wieluń in the early morning of September 1, 1945, followed by further bombing raids during the course of the day. The town was almost completely destroyed. The exact number of victims is still unknown today, with estimates ranging into the low four-digit range. The air raid took place without a prior declaration of war by the German Reich, was not aimed at any military targets and, according to contemporary witnesses, began before the shelling of the Westerplatte near Danzig by the German training ship Schleswig-Holstein. This made it the first military operation and at the same time the first war crime of the Second World War.
– an event that has now all but disappeared from historical memory. The well-known examples of
Rotterdam
Rotterdam Blitz
also:
Bombing of the Dutch city of Rotterdam by the German Luftwaffe on May 14, 1940. The medieval old town of Rotterdam was completely destroyed by the air raid and other parts of the city were badly hit. Over 800 inhabitants of Rotterdam lost their lives in the attacks.
and
Coventry
Bombardment of Rotterdam, German bombardment of Rotterdam, Bombing of Rotterdam, German bombing of Rotterdam
Coventry Blitz
also:
German Luftwaffe air raid on the English city of Coventry on the night of November 14/15, 1940 as part of the so-called “Blitz” or Battle of Britain. During the air raid, large parts of the city center were completely destroyed and around two thirds of all buildings in the city were at least damaged. At least 568 people lost their lives in the attacks. Coventry Cathedral, which was also almost completely destroyed, was left in ruins as a memorial.
took place the following year. The Allies responded with the systematic destruction of German cities from the air. However, there were considerable differences between East and West in the pace of the destruction. In Western Europe and especially in Western Germany, cities were hit by systematic bombing on a massive scale, while it was mostly smaller cities that were destroyed in the final months of the war in the course of fighting on the ground. This occurred, for example, during the Battle of the Bulge. Numerous cities in eastern Europe and eastern Germany experienced both, which meant that the destruction there was much more extensive and had far greater consequences. A case like Air raid on Coventry, Coventry air raid, Coventry bombing
Wolgograd
rus. Stalingrad, rus. Царицын, rus. Сталинград, rus. Волгоград, rus. Zarizyn
The city on the Volga was called Tsaritsyn until 1925, then Stalingrad until 1961. It is internationally known because of the Battle of Stalingrad in World War II, in which the Wehrmacht and its allies were devastatingly defeated by the Red Army in the winter of 1942/43, and which is considered a psychological turning point in the war. In the framework of de-Stalinization, the city was renamed Volgograd in 1961.
There was also a third form of destruction, which was almost exclusively found in Eastern Europe – namely, warfare that deliberately targeted the population. As the proportion of Jewish people in Poland and the Soviet Union was considerably higher than in the countries of Western Europe, the Holocaust had a greater effect on the cities there. Germany also waged war against the non-Jewish population, which, according to the racially structured world view of National Socialism and depending on the course of the war, was subjected to a catastrophic logic of extermination. These dynamics can be seen as if through a magnifying glass in the example of Warsaw. Here we can also gain insights into the high expectations and utopias associated with the reconstruction of the cities after the Second World War.
The destruction of Warsaw
The almost complete destruction of took place in three stages. When Germany invaded Poland, the city was initially targeted by the Luftwaffe, before being besieged by the Wehrmacht from mid-September and finally taken after considerable fighting and massive destruction. Warsaw became part of the General Government ruled from Krakow and was thus relieved of its function as the capital. Germany’s policy was to destroy Warsaw as a modern metropolis, the very notion of which was a provocation for the National Socialists, who believed in a racially inferior and backward Poland. This was accompanied by the expulsion and extermination of large parts of the pre-war population. Hundreds of thousands of Jews who lived in Warsaw or had been deported there were murdered in the Holocaust. The already brutal repression, also of the non-Jewish civilian population, culminated in the liquidation of well over a hundred thousand people during the suppression of the
Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
Uprising of the Polish military resistance in Warsaw from August 1, 1944 to October 2, 1944; suppression by German occupying forces with considerable civilian casualties.
in August 1944 by the Wehrmacht and SS.
Warszawa
deu. Warschau, eng. Warsaw, yid. Varše, yid. וואַרשע, rus. Варшава, rus. Varšava, fra. Vaarsovie
Warsaw is the capital of Poland and also the largest city in the country (population in 2024: 1,863,845). It is located in the Mazovian Voivodeship on Poland's longest river, the Vistula. Warsaw first became the capital of the Polish-Lithuanian noble republic at the end of the 16th century, replacing Krakow, which had previously been the Polish capital. During the partitions of Poland-Lithuania, Warsaw was occupied several times and finally became part of the Prussian province of South Prussia for eleven years. From 1807 to 1815 the city was the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw, a short-lived Napoleonic satellite state; in the annexation of the Kingdom of Poland under Russian suzerainty (the so-called Congress Poland). It was not until the establishment of the Second Polish Republic after the end of World War I that Warsaw was again the capital of an independent Polish state.
At the beginning of World War II, Warsaw was conquered and occupied by the Wehrmacht only after intense fighting and a siege lasting several weeks. Even then, a five-digit number of inhabitants were killed and parts of the city, known not least for its numerous baroque palaces and parks, were already severely damaged. In the course of the subsequent oppression, persecution and murder of the Polish and Jewish population, by far the largest Jewish ghetto under German occupation was established in the form of the Warsaw Ghetto, which served as a collection camp for several hundred thousand people from the city, the surrounding area and even occupied foreign countries, and was also the starting point for deportation to labor and extermination camps.
As a result of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from April 18, 1943 and its suppression in early May 1943, the ghetto area was systematically destroyed and its last inhabitants deported and murdered. This was followed in the summer of 1944 by the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupation, which lasted two months and resulted in the deaths of almost two hundred thousand Poles, and after its suppression the rest of Warsaw was also systematically destroyed by German units.
In the post-war period, many historic buildings and downtown areas, including the Warsaw Royal Castle and the Old Town, were rebuilt - a process that continues to this day.
Ruins of the Prudential House high-rise, destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. The building housed the British insurance company of the same name and was the tallest structure in Poland before World War II (now it houses the Hotel Warszawa). In terms of its construction, Art Deco design, and technical features, the Prudential House was a symbol of Warsaw’s modernity, inv. no. 217321, Beyerlein Collection. Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung,
Ruins of the Prudential House high-rise, destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising. The building housed the British insurance company of the same name and was the tallest structure in Poland before World War II (now it houses the Hotel Warszawa). In terms of its construction, Art Deco design, and technical features, the Prudential House was a symbol of Warsaw’s modernity, inv. no. 217321, Beyerlein Collection. Herder-Institut für historische Ostmitteleuropaforschung,
The consequences of an unrestrained occupation policy were dramatic for the city's infrastructure. The
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
also:
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a response to Heinrich Himmler's order to implement the final phase of the liquidation of the ghetto. At that time, there were 500,000-550,000 people trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto, of whom 50,000-60,000 remained. The uprising lasted from April 19, 1943 to May 16, 1943. It was also the first action of resistance against the German Nazi regime of this magnitude on Polish territory and the largest single Jewish uprising during the Second World War. However, the so-called January Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto took place before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as the first act of armed Jewish resistance.
The armed struggle was led mainly by members of the largest, but poorly equipped, group of the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa – ŻOB), led in the ghetto by Mordechaj Anielewicz, and the Jewish Military Union (Żydowski Związek Wojskowy – ŻZW), led by Paweł(?) Frenk(e)l. Estimates range from up to 1,000-1,500 fighters, with the forces of the ŻOB rather comprising 220-300 and the ŻZW probably 100-200 persons. They were also joined by other groups and individuals. The Polish resistance, in particular the Armia Krajowa (the so-called Polish Home Army), the Gwardia Ludowa (People's Guard), the Korpus Bezpieczeństwa (Security Corps) and probably the PLAN (Polska Ludowa Akcja Niepodległościowa – Polish People's Action for Independence), helped to procure weapons for the insurgents. However, these groups were ambivalent about the Jewish uprising and its support, not least in view of the already scarce resources for their own activities. During the uprising itself, the Armia Krajowa and the Gwardia Ludowa also carried out individual military actions, but these played a subordinate role in the course of the uprising. After the end of the uprising, isolated fighting continued into June.
The German occupiers used the scorched earth tactic. During the uprising or immediately after it was suppressed, 10,000-13,000 Jews were killed, and a further 43,000 were subsequently deported to extermination camps. During the fighting, only a small number of the ghetto inhabitants managed to escape. On the German side, approximately 2,100 armed soldiers and police fought the uprising every day, including Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian units. On the so-called Aryan side of the ghetto wall, the local police (i.e. the former Polish police) patrolled to arrest people trying to escape. Estimates of the losses on the German and their helpers' side range from 16 to over 100 people.
gave the German occupiers the pretext to raze the inner-city districts of the ghetto to the ground. During and after the Warsaw Uprising, they then systematically destroyed most of the remaining urban structure – to a degree that even defied military logic.Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto
Reconstruction and utopia
The destruction of Warsaw and the annihilation of its population thus took place in phases and with different motivations. This meant that there could be no one reconstruction in the sense of a unified idea shared by planners and architects. Rather, the plans reflected the various stages of destruction and the political circumstances under which it was possible to design, think about the future and later build. Just how complex the utopias of reconstruction were can be seen in Warsaw's Old Town, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980 and is regarded as a symbol and model far beyond Poland's borders. Planning for the Old Town had already begun before the Second World War, but at that time the aim was still to renovate a historical built environment that was sometimes considered problematic. For those Polish architects of the interwar period who considered themselves to be modernists, the old town played a subordinate role as a relic of a vanished era that should be relegated to the past. This view initially also shaped the reconstruction plans that emerged in the Polish underground during the war. As in other European countries, the destruction caused by the war was also seen as an opportunity to build a new, modern city.
The architects' early visions for the reconstruction of Warsaw ranged from more traditional designs based on heritage value to modernist plans. The latter were oriented towards the ideal of the functional city. The reconstruction plans of modern architects that emerged during the war envisaged a functional division of the city along the lines of four supposed “main purposes” of housing, transportation, work and recreation, based on pre-war designs (Warszawa Funkcjonalna). As a reaction to the war experience, the plans that advanced the furthest were those that emphasized the community-building role of modern housing estates. These were intended to replace the capitalist urban structure, which was seen as dysfunctional and was accused of promoting isolation.
The course of the war and the deliberate destruction of the historic city center by the German occupying forces ultimately led to a convergence of the ideas of the more traditional and the modernist architects. After the war, the idea of not rebuilding the old town center was no longer politically conceivable. It would have meant that people would have to resign themselves to its deliberate destruction by the Germans – a move that had also been an attack on Polish national identity. Moreover, the Communist Party was keen to present itself as a patriotic force that was also concerned with preserving the national heritage.
Visions of a model socialist city
The destruction of Warsaw was so dramatic that its reconstruction had to take on dimensions that were virtually unparalleled in Europe. In addition, the communists, who took power in Poland after the war, recognized that the reconstruction of the capital represented an important source of legitimacy and provided considerable funds. This included the opportunities that arose from the large-scale nationalization of land, but also the “Office for the Reconstruction of the Capital” (Biuro Odbudowy Stolicy), which was equipped with hundreds of architects and engineers and was a genuine component of the planned economy introduced by the communists.
This all opened up considerable opportunities for modern architects after 1945. Many of them were avid sympathizers of a socialist system, partly because the role envisaged for them in the planned economy corresponded to their self-image as designers of a new society. This consensus is clearly expressed in the exhibition “Warszawa oskarża” (Warsaw Accuses), which was organized as early as 1946. Suggestive before and after pictures highlighted the extreme destruction caused by the war. They showed plans and initial reconstruction efforts, thus presenting a modernist model city that had learned lessons both from the war and from the failed pre-war architecture. In this way, the city not only joined the international discourse, but also took on a pioneering role. This message, spread by modern architects such as the married couple
Helena (1900–1982) and Szymon Syrkus (1893–1964)
Helena (1900–1982) and Szymon Syrkus (1893–1964)
were polish architects of the modernist movement. Their work attracted international acclaim, especially in the 1930s. They created plans for Warsaw before, during and after the Second World War.
, who traveled as far as the USA with the exhibition, also fell on fertile ground in the West.
A few years after the war, the rebuilt city of Warsaw – in particular, areas such as the Koło Estate (1947–50) designed by the Syrkuses – became a symbol of the catastrophe of the war and how it could be overcome. The writer Max Frisch, who was also an architect, praised this urbanistic achievement early on in its development, acknowledging its role in fostering a new kind of urban community. David Riesman, author of the influential book “The Lonely Crowd” (1950), saw Warsaw as a realized architectural utopia that made a better society possible, even if, from an American perspective, the extensive renunciation of individual modes of transport seemed unrealistic to him.
Competing modernities
However, the vision of a radically renewed city rising from the ashes was ultimately not able to pass the reality test. This was not surprising, as Warsaw had to contend with extremely limited material resources. It proved extremely difficult to counter the emergence of 'wild' settlements that had begun to crop up as a reaction to the sluggish housing construction. The communist leadership, which had seemed to offer so many opportunities for modern architects to pursue their visions, also turned out to be a difficult partner. Furthermore, as early as 1948, Stalin imposed Socialist Realism throughout the Eastern Bloc, which rejected international modernism in favor of classical architecture, art and literature based on national traditions. However, some Polish architects also welcomed a national architectural style based on the real or assumed needs of the workers. The buildings along Marszałkowska Street and the Palace of Culture (1952–1955) are the best-known examples of this.
And finally, the political requirements of the party and the Moscow leadership grew with the design possibilities of the planned economy. Many modern architects found all this disillusioning. As a result, Warsaw's reconstruction did not turn out to be very radical in the modernist sense. The 'new' Old Town was built above a tunnel and was purged of the supposed stylistic ballast of historical epochs that were deemed less valuable, but it was nevertheless a reference to history and nation and not to a bright architectural modernism. With a few exceptions, housing estates based on the principles of international modernism could only be built on a large scale from the 1960s onwards.
Today, it is probably the juxtaposition of a reconstructed but lively old town, the scattered remnants of pre-war Warsaw and the evidence of various phases of socialist urban development that characterizes Warsaw. For the few Western visitors at the time, Warsaw was a metropolis even before the end of communism – it contrasted in an attractive way with the 'aseptic' reconstruction, especially in West Germany, which had long been perceived as deficient. In the decades since the end of communism, Warsaw has developed into one of the most dynamic cities in Europe, increasingly characterized, in terms of its architecture, by the commercially driven modernity of global capitalism. From the perspective of 1945, the urban dynamism of today's Warsaw is a surprising finding. It is a success story that can be attributed to the many planners and architects involved in the reconstruction of the Polish capital, but also, as can be observed in many cities in Eastern Europe, to the perseverance of urban society itself under the extreme circumstances of the war.
English translation: William Connor
