Warsaw. Today it is climbing upwards, dazzling with many ambitious developments and modern. And only a few decades ago it almost disappeared from the face of the Earth. The destruction of the city by the Germans in retaliation for the resistance of the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising was a tragic event. Its reconstruction was largely made possible by the fact that the architects and urban planners who took part in this great independence uprising continued to work with great commitment to save the capital after the war. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, we recall those who lifted Warsaw from the rubble.
The attack on Poland by Nazi Germany was the beginning of an extremely difficult wartime history for Warsaw. Already in September 1939, the aggressors destroyed 10 per cent of the city’s buildings. The occupation period was equally difficult. In 1943, after the fall of the ghetto uprising, another 15 per cent of the capital was destroyed. The hardest part, however, was yet to come. 1 August 1944 poured hope into the hearts of many Varsovians, some of whom stood up with weapons in hand to fight for freedom. The heroic uprising brought many casualties due to the inaction of the Soviet troops, who watched passively as the uprising bled. Among them was Warsaw itself, whose historic buildings and priceless monuments were, in revenge, mostly destroyed by the Germans. The balance was catastrophic. After the fall of the uprising and the German action to demolish the capital, 85 per cent of the buildings on the left bank of the city ceased to exist, including almost 100 per cent of the Old Town.
The Old Town Square in 1945. Photo: Public domain
“The Warsaw Uprising left a huge mark on today’s capital. Almost at every turn we come across places hallowed by the blood and struggle of its then inhabitants. After the war, many of them returned to Warsaw, dedicating themselves to its reconstruction. It is largely thanks to them that we can admire this city, live in it, study and work,” says Rafał Szczepański, President of the Warsaw Uprising Heroes Remembrance Foundation, which deals, among other things, with commemorating the insurgents, helping the heroes and spreading knowledge of the independence uprising.
Rebuilding the capital
The time of the uprising interrupted the course of history. Ordinary citizens became soldiers, liaison officers and orderlies. Craftsmen, merchants, teachers. Among them were also architects and urban planners, students of the Warsaw Polytechnic. A significant number of those who survived went down in the pages of the new architecture of Warsaw. They were led by Stanisław Jankowski alias Agaton, Zbigniew Pawelski alias Jastrząb, Eugeniusz Ajewski alias Kotwa and many other heroes.
The new Warsaw
The reborn capital city is not only about demolished monuments rising like a phoenix from the ashes, including the Royal Castle or the Ujazdowski Castle, whose history we wrote about HERE. It is also new buildings and new urban planning. One of the most ambitious projects of the immediate post-war period was the W-Z Route, a transport artery which remains extremely important to this day. Running along an east-west axis, on both sides of the city, it was extremely modern (built between 1947 and 1949). Its most characteristic element is the tunnel running under Castle Square. Among the main designers of this investment was the already mentioned Stanisław Jankowski alias Agaton.
For the people
A big problem for the completely destroyed Warsaw and its returning inhabitants was the lack of housing. The needs were enormous, and much of the pre-war housing that had existed before the war had ceased to exist. A great contribution to the rebuilding of the capital was made by Maria and Kazimierz Piechotek, a liaison officer and Home Army soldier who married during the Warsaw Uprising. They began their architectural studies before the war, studied during the occupation and finished just after it ended. Kazimierz worked at the Bureau for the Reconstruction of the Capital and Maria at the State Monument Conservation Workshop. Amongst other things, they were involved in projects for the reconstruction of St John’s Cathedral or Old Town tenements. At the beginning of the 1950s, they were given the task of building housing estates in Bielany, the so-called Bielany I, Bielany II, Bielany III and Bielany IV. From then on, it was this kind of construction that became their main focus. In slightly later years, the team they led developed the W-70, a large-panel system popular in communist Poland.
Another architect-insurgent who became famous for his contribution to the creation of the capital’s housing developments was Bogusław Chyliński alias Bogusław. During the Warsaw Uprising, he fought as a gunner in the “Kilinski” battalion in the area of North Śródmieście. He was a co-author of such projects as the residential building in the Kępa Potocka estate on Promyka Street in Warsaw (awarded the title of Mister Warsaw 1969), or the Wawrzyszew-Chomiczówka housing estate.
Several decades later
Unquestionably, it is the immediate post-war era when the architects and urban planners who fought in the Warsaw Uprising took the most active part in working on the plans for Warsaw rising from the rubble. However, there is no shortage of slightly later, iconic buildings in today’s cityscape that came out of the hands of Warsaw’s heroes. Among them is the Victoria Hotel on Królewska Street, near Piłsudski Square. Built between 1973 and 1976, the building, now owned by the luxury Sofitel chain, is known for many famous film and TV productions such as: “The Great Shu”, “Football Poker” or “Kingsajz”. One of its main designers was Zbigniew Pawelski, who fought in the “Ryś” battalion.
Remembrance of distinguished architects and urban planners
The approaching 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising is a worthy moment to commemorate those who both resisted the German occupiers and created new and recreated the city’s historic buildings. Many of them were associated with the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, which, incidentally, was a silent witness to many of the uprising skirmishes. The Warsaw Uprising Heroes Memorial Foundation, together with the university authorities, will unveil a plaque dedicated to the memory of the Architects and Urban Planners, Professors, Lecturers, Employees and Students of the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology, participants in the Warsaw Uprising, on 2 August 2024.
View of the Old Town, 1945 and 2019. Photo Warsaw – on the destruction and reconstruction of the city, Warsaw: ‘Interpress’ Publishers, pp. 283 and Google Earth
“This place, the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, is a natural choice to remind us that despite the tragic events of the war and the subsequent communist era, many urban planners and architects, and participants in the Warsaw Uprising, undertook the reconstruction of Poland and its capital, our city. The plaque on the façade of the building, visible to every passer-by, resident or tourist, is a testimony to this. Let us remember those thanks to whom Warsaw can be a beautiful, developing city today” – emphasises Rafał Szczepański, President of the Warsaw Uprising Heroes Remembrance Foundation.
Source: Press materials of the Warsaw Rising HeroesRemembrance Foundation
Read also: Architects | Urban Planning | Monuments | History | Warsaw | Architecture in Poland
Topic: architects and urban planners in the Warsaw Uprising. Without them there would not be today’s capital city
