Tracing the history of Warsaw since occupation in 1939

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The weather forecast had been promising but it was clearly going to take a while and a breakthrough of the sun to warm the temperature back above the mid teens again.

Today we planned a walk through the old and new towns, both reconstructed since the end of World War 2 and then a look at the Jewish ghetto quarter.

We have been very impressed by the Warsaw metro for its cleanliness, efficiency and frequency of the trains. Compared to all the other metros we have ridden over the years Warsaw now ranks number one. The metro has just one line for the present, running north/south on the western side of the Wisla, although another line is being built east/west crossing the original line in the area of Centrum. We can imagine that for a city that is desperately cold in the winter that travel underground to get to and from work or just getting about would be easier and more tolerable rather than on the surface.

After emerging from the subway we started our walk through Krasinski Square and the striking and powerful Uprising Monument which is in commemoration of the failed uprising that started on 1^st August 1944.Over the road at what looked like a church there was some sort of service about to happen with Polish soldiers resplendent in uniforms and older men with a sash across their chest in Polish colours filing into the building. There were also children in uniforms similar to a Boy Scout and Girl Guide also with Polish sashes on getting themselves ready to join whatever was happening.

As the gathering was only starting we decided not to wait and see what it was all about but moved onto the New Town passing over a marker for what was an outer wall of the Jewish ghetto which was the largest of all the ghettos constructed by the Nazis during their occupations of various countries during WW2.

The reconstruction that the Poles achieved from the early 1950’s onwards of Warsaw and in particular the New and Old Towns is nothing short of remarkable and shows the clear resolve that the people of this proud nation had ,to put their heritage, so savagely destroyed by the Nazis, back to where it was before the occupation. And they have achieved it with outstanding results so that when you look at the buildings you could not visibly tell they had only been standing since the early 1950’s and later. Many of the buildings have been rebuilt using bricks from the rubble and so have an authentic look about them.

Although the weather was a little on the cool side we stopped at a cafe for a coffee and a pastries and biscuits and sat outside enjoying the environment of the New Town square.

As part of the reconstruction of Warsaw the original city walls and portals were also rebuilt to add further to the feeling of retaining its history.

We passed through one of the portals and walked along a couple of streets that link up the New to the Old town and into the vast Old Town square with its multi coloured three story houses with shops on the street level.

We were going to go inside the castle (it too had been reconstructed as part of the early 1050’s rebuild) but part of it was closed to the public so we gave it a miss and continued on down through the old town market square.

In a small park was an outdoor photographic display of the city in ruins with photos taken of various streets and prominent locations before the occupation, after the failed uprising and Nazi destruction in retribution and today. It was an excellent display giving a very graphic outline of Warsaw’s history since 1939.

The Jewish ghetto was centred on the other side of the main avenue through Centrum and on the way there we stopped in at a cafe for lunch and then went on to take a look inside the Marks and Spencer store. We remembered afterwards that we should have looked for a jar of vegemite, the taste of which we are missing very much. But we forgot and missed the chance, at least for now.

We had an idea of the outline of where the ghetto had been and in particular a street where there is still an original building from the period of occupation and had not been destroyed in the uprising or the Nazi retribution afterwards.

After a bit of searching we found the street and the building which is now unoccupied and in a rather poor state of repair. It certainly looked out of place with buildings from the 1950’s reconstruction around it as well as more modern high rise office buildings.

This appeared to be all that is left of the ghetto area which looked quite different to that of Krakow although of course it should be remembered that Krakow wasn’t destroyed to the same level as Warsaw was wiping out a lot of history.

Before we finished our walk we took in the large concrete monolith of a building that is known as The Palace of Culture and Science and was built by the Russians and ‘given ‘to the people of Warsaw in 1955.The building has a distinct Russian look about it being dull and grey in colour. Today it houses a various number of theatres and cinemas,exhibition centre,offices and a conference hall.

With a number of other modernistic building in view beside and behind the Palace of Culture and Science looks oddly out of place with the way Warsaw is heading. Whether the locals will eventually get rid of it will be interesting to follow as it is probably seen in an adverse way by some as a throwback to the days of Russian influence in the way the country was run until 1989 when communist rule came to an end and you get the feeling that those days are now well in the past.

We joined the rush hour Metro and headed home feeling well satisfied that we had seen most of what we wanted to in the downtown area.

After dinner we took a walk around the local streets of Stare Bielany close to the apartment and it was interesting to note that while the main avenues were lined with the old style, drab socialist apartment blocks, the lanes and streets that ran between them had single dwellings of more modern design such as the one we were staying in giving quite a contrast within a small area.

Tomorrow we make our way north east towards the border with Lithuania.

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