„Budowniczy stolicy”. Warszawski mecenat Bolesława Bieruta w latach 1945–1955
“Builder of the Capital”? Warsaw Patronage of Bolesław Bierut in the Years 1945–1955

Summary/Abstract: In the People’s Republic of Poland, Warsaw experienced two periods of accelerated urbandevelopment. The first one was the time of reconstruction, which lasted until 1955. The second occurred in the first half of the 1970s . Wisłostrada and Trasa Łazienkowska were built, the Central Railway Station was erected, and design works on the underground railway line were resumed. These activities, completely different from the stagnant investment policies implemented by Władysław Gomułka, owed a lot to the communist party patronage, although it would be difficult to point to specific names. The reconstruction years were inextricably linked with Bolesław Bierut. The article analyses the maintenance of Warsaw’s capital city status, the political and private involvement of Bierut in the process of rebuilding and redevelopment of the city, his relationships with architects, and his propagandist image of the “builder of the capital”. Reference has been made to the Soviet models for city redevelopment, serving as a basis for the “6-Year Capital Reconstruction Plan” of 1949. The cited architectural and party documents reveal an image of Bolesław Bierut as a person particularly engaged in the post-war reconstruction of Warsaw. From 1949 onwards, Warsaw was being designed in line with the postulates of socialist realism, imposed on Poland along with the advances of Stalinism. During Bierut’s reign, the reconstructed districts in Warsaw included the Old Town destroyed by Germans, Krakowskie Przedmieście, and numerous monuments. At the same time, the capital of Poland was supposed to become an industrial city with a totally different social tissue. It was all in line with the general plans of Stalin, Bierut being their executioner.

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