Warsaw STARE MIASTO Destroyed and Rebuilt Zarzad

Stare Miasto w Warszawie: Odbudowa, by Poland, Zarzad Muzeow. 1956

POLAK POTRAFI: Warsaw’s Historic Center Re-Created Almost From Scratch after WWII

THE REBUILDING OF THE OLD TOWN OF WARSAW is the title of this Polish-language work. Warsaw’s Stare Miasto had many centuries-old buildings. Many of them were destroyed during the Soviet-betrayed Warsaw Uprising of 1944, but the remainder of them were deliberately burned and blown up by the Germans, for no military reason whatsoever, between the surrender of the Uprising (October 2, 1944), and the six-months-delayed entry of the Red Army. (January 17, 1945).

SCOPE OF THE GERMAN-CAUSED DESTRUCTION

There were 226 buildings in the Stare Miasto. (p. 23). The book has many architectural drawings and descriptions, and requires some knowledge of architectural terms in order to appreciate fully. There is an atlas of the ruined buildings and their rebuilt versions. In addition, sketches numbered 90-108 show the street-view facades of the historic buildings, before 1939, with darker-line superimposed sketches of the outlines of the fragments of the walls that survived the war. In most cases, only the first story of the wall survived in places. Below each sketch is another one, showing the rebuilt building. It is obvious that the reconstructed versions were not always identical to their prewar counterparts.

THE STAGES OF THE PAINSTAKING REBUILDING PROCESS

The reconstruction of the Old Town occurred in three phases. (p. 8). The first one (1945-1947) included a survey of the destruction, and placement of scaffolding to prevent solitary walls from falling. (see also p. 17). During the second phase (1947-1950), the earlier procedures were continued, while rubble was removed and some buildings rebuilt. In the final phase (1950-1954), the remainder of the buildings were reconstructed, and the new Stare Miasto made fit for public access.

THE COMMUNIST AUTHORITIES PREVENT THE REBUILDING OF THE ROYAL CASTLE IN WARSAW

At the time of the publication of this book (1956), the massive project was reckoned finished. However, the Royal Castle, destroyed by the Germans as a symbol of Polish nationhood, had not been reconstructed by the Communist authorities for obvious political reasons. It was not to be rebuilt until the 1970’s.