Destruction of Warsaw
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The destruction of Warsaw was Nazi Germany's razing of the city in late 1944, after the 1944 Warsaw Uprising of the Polish resistance. The uprising infuriated German leaders, who decided to destroy the city in retaliation.
The razing of the city
German forces dedicated an unprecedented effort to razing the city, destroying 80–90% of Warsaw's buildings, including the vast majority of museums, art galleries, theaters, churches, parks, and historical buildings such as castles and palaces. They deliberately demolished, burned, or stole an immense part of Warsaw's cultural heritage. After the war, extensive work was put into rebuilding the city according to pre-war plans and historical documents.
The destruction of Warsaw was practically unparalleled in the Second World War, with it being noted that "Perhaps no city suffered more than Warsaw during World War II", with historian Alexandra Richie stating that "The destruction of Warsaw was unique even in the terrible history of the Second World War".[1]
The city must completely disappear from the surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation.
Prewar plan of destruction
On June 20, 1939, while Adolf Hitler was visiting an architectural bureau in Würzburg am Main, he noticed a project of a future German town – Neue deutsche Stadt Warschau. According to the Pabst Plan, Warsaw was to be turned into a provincial German city of 130,000. Third Reich planners drafted precise drawings outlining a historic "Germanic" core where a select few landmarks would be saved, such as the Royal Castle which would serve as Hitler's state residence. The Plan, which was composed of 15 drawings and a miniature architectural model, was named after German army architect Friedrich Pabst who refined the concept of destroying a nation's morale and culture by destroying its physical and architectural manifestations. The design of the actual new German city over the site of Warsaw was devised by Hubert Gross.[4][5] The aftermath of the failure of the Warsaw Uprising presented an opportunity for Hitler to begin to realize his pre-war conception.[6][page needed]
Warsaw Uprising's aftermath
Expulsion of civilians
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The
In 1944, a large transit camp (Durchgangslager, or Dulag) was constructed in Pruszków's Train Repair Shops (Zakłady Naprawcze Taboru Kolejowego) to house the evacuees expelled from Warsaw. In the course of the Warsaw Uprising and its suppression, the Germans deported approximately 550,000 of the city's residents and approximately 100,000 civilians from its outskirts, sending them to Dulag 121 in Pruszków .[citation needed] The security police and the SS segregated the deportees and decided their fate. Approximately 650,000 people passed through the Pruszków camp in August, September, and October. Approximately 55,000 were sent to concentration camps, including 13,000 to Auschwitz.[citation needed] They included people from a variety of social classes, occupations, physical conditions, and ages. Evacuees ranged from infants only a few weeks old to the extremely elderly. In a few cases, these were also people of different ethnic backgrounds, including Jews living on "Aryan papers".[7][additional citation(s) needed]
Looting and destruction of buildings
After the remaining population had been expelled, the Germans began the destruction of the remnants of the city.[10] Special groups of German combat engineers were dispatched throughout the city in order to burn (Brandkommandos) and demolish (Sprengkommandos) the remaining buildings. According to German plans, after the war Warsaw was to be turned into nothing more than a military transit station.[11]
By January 1945, between 85% and 90% of the buildings had been completely destroyed; this includes up to 10% as a result of the
Material losses were estimated at 10,455 buildings, 923 historical buildings (94%), 25 churches, 14 libraries including the
Burning of libraries
During the German suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, around 70 to 80% of libraries were carefully burned by the Brandkommandos (burning detachments), whose mission was to burn Warsaw.
In the last phase of the Warsaw Uprising and after its collapse, in September and October 1944, the three major private libraries in Warsaw (Krasiński Library, Przeździecki Library and the Libraty of Zamoyski Family Entail), including collections of priceless value to Polish culture, ceased to exist.[17] Those libraries had already suffered in September 1939, when they were bombed and burned.[17]
An important collection of books belonging to the
The Central Military Library, containing 350,000 books on the history of Poland, was destroyed, including the Library of Polish Museum in Rapperswil deposited there for safekeeping. The collection of the Rapperswil Library had been transported to Poland in 1927.[19] The library and the museum were founded in Rapperswil, Switzerland, in 1870 as "a refuge for [Poland's] historic memorabilia dishonored and plundered in the [occupied Polish] homeland" and for the promotion of Polish interests.[20] The greater part of library's collections, originally 20,000 engravings, 92,000 books and 27,000 manuscripts, were deliberately destroyed by the Germans in 1944.[19]
Unlike earlier Nazi book burnings where specific books were deliberately targeted, the burning of those libraries was part of the general burning of a large part of the city of Warsaw.[21] This resulted in the disappearance of many valuable old books and scrolls among about sixteen million volumes from National Library, museums and palaces burnt indiscriminately by Germans in Poland during World War II.[15]
Scope of destruction
Category | Destroyed |
---|---|
Roadway and railway bridges | 100% |
Theatres and cinemas | 95% |
Industry | 90% |
Healthcare buildings | 90% |
Historical monument buildings | 90% |
Tram infrastructure | 85% |
Tram rolling stock | 75% |
Housing | 72% |
Education | 70% |
Trees in parks and gardens | 60% |
Electricity | 50% |
Gas pipes | 46% |
Water supply | 30% |
Roadways surface | 30% |
Gallery
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Warsaw during World War II: destroyed townhouses between Zielna (top) and Marszałkowska streets (bottom). In bottom right corner building Marszałkowska 156 on the corner with Królewskia street, also visible Bloch Palace at Marszałkowska 154. September 1939
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Intersection of Marszałkowska Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie Street in Warsaw during German occupation. Visible tramway #3 with a billboard "Kamea woda kwiatowa". Behind it ruins of destroyed in 1939 townhouse at Marszałkowska 98/al. Jerozolimskie 33 streets.
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Prudential Building, hit by a 2-ton mortar shell
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Warsaw Old Townmarketplace, 1945
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Royal Castle reduced to rubble
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Marszałkowska Streetin flames
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German soldiers in front of a burning Ursus factory
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St. Mary's Church, destroyed in 1944.
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Statue of Jesus Christ from the Holy Cross Church
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Mirów Hallsin flames
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Sigismund's Column demolished by German tank shell
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A German soldier sets fire to a building
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Aerial photograph of the destroyed Warsaw Ghetto
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Polish soldier's grave before ruins on Wyjazd Street
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Parade of theMarszałkowska Street
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Vistula River(1948)
Warsaw's rebuilding
Warsaw was rebuilt by the Polish people between the 1950s and 1970s. Some landmarks were reconstructed as late as the 1980s. While the Old Town has been thoroughly reconstructed, the New Town has been only partially restored to its former state.[23]
See also
- Chronicles of Terror
- Destruction of Kalisz
- List of libraries damaged during World War II
- List of Polish cities damaged in World War II
- Nero Decree
- Scorched earth
References
- ^ "Liberation of Warsaw". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. 2020-01-17. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
- ^ Source: (Polish) Adolf Ciborowski, Warszawa – o zniszczeniu i odbudowie miasta, Warsaw, Interpress Publishers, 1969, p. 57.
- ^ Getter, Marek (August–September 2004). "Straty ludzkie i materialne w Powstaniu Warszawskim" (PDF). Biuletyn IPN. 8–9: 71. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 17, 2013.
- ^ Mix, Andreas (September 26, 2009). "Eine Germanisierungsphantasie". Berliner Zeitung. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
- ISBN 3-88506-223-2[page needed]
- ^ Księga Pamięci, Transporty Polaków z Warszawy do KL Auschwitz 1940–1944 (Memorial Book: Transports of Poles from Warsaw to Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1940–1944)
- ^ "Warsaw Uprising of 1944". www.warsawuprising.com. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
- ^ Axis Forum
- ^ a b c d "Warsaw Uprising: FAQ". Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
- ^ Peter K. Gessner, "For over two months..." Archived December 3, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Source: (Polish): Adolf Ciborowski: O zniszczeniu i odbudowie miasta (A City Destroyed and Rebuilt), Warszawa 1969, Poland: "Interpress" Publishers, p.63
- ^ "Warszawa szacuje straty wojenne" (in Polish). Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
- ^ See the following pages on the official site of Warsaw: Raport o stratach wojennych Warszawy LISTOPAD 2004 Archived 2018-07-17 at the Wayback Machine, Straty Warszawy w albumie Archived 2021-02-25 at the Wayback Machine and Straty wojenne Warszawy Archived 2021-03-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Maria Witt. "The Zaluski Collection in Warsaw". The Strange Life of One of the Greatest European Libraries of the Eighteenth Century. FYI France (September 15 and October 15, 2005). Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2008.
- ^ a b Lech Chmielewski. "In the House under the Sign of the Kings". Welcome to Warsaw. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Konrad Ajewski. "O trzech Bibliotekach Ordynackich w Warszawie w 60. rocznicę ich zniszczenia" (PDF). www.nid.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 30, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "Biblioteka Ordynacji Krasińskich" (PDF). www.bn.org.pl (in Polish). Retrieved August 1, 2010.
- ^ a b "The Polish National Museum (1870–1927)". www.muzeum-polskie.org. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
- ^ Gabriela Pauszer-Klonowska (1969). "year XXV, no 8 (281)". W Rapperswilu śladami Żeromskiego i Prusa (In Rapperswil in the Footsteps of Żeromski and Prus) (in Polish). Problemy: organ Towarzystwa Wiedzy Powszechnej. pp. 466–467.
- ISBN 0-275-99007-9.
- OCLC 3369342.
- ^ "How Warsaw Came Close to Never Being Rebuilt". Culture.pl. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
Bibliography
- Ciborowski, Adolf (1969). Warsaw A City Destroyed and Rebuilt. Poland: Interpress Publishers. p. 328.
External links
- Media related to Planned destruction of Warsaw at Wikimedia Commons
- Collection of civilian testimonies about destruction of Warsaw
- Capturing the Ruins of Warsaw