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Warszawa 1981: an eye on a razed and rebuilt city

Varsavia 1981: uno sguardo su una città rasa al suolo e ricostruita

text and photos by Alberto Alfredo Landi, 2016

text in English, Italiano y Castellano

subtitulo Alt TextDog waiting for his owner outside a supermarket. 1981Varsavia1981-0009

On September 1, 1939 the German Wehrmacht invaded Poland and massed 400.000 Polish Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to implement the Final Solution. Most of them were deported and assassinated in the Treblinka extermination camp.
On April 19, 1943, the remaining Jews launched the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which ended a month later without survivors.
The Warsaw Uprising took place in 1944 by the Polish Resistance. At the end the Germans expelled the rest of the population and razed Warsaw to the ground as act of revenge.
Only then the Soviet Red Army entered the ruins of Warsaw and liberated the city.
About 85% of the city had been destroyed. At the end the number of deaths of the Warsaw population killed by the Germans was 600,000, of which 400,000 were Jews.
After the war, a part of the Old Town was rebuilt, but above all, new urban projects and a large scale prefabricated housing plan were carried out, until the fall of the communist regime in 1989.

These images are a vivid and unique testimony of the city in 1981.

Il primo di settembre del 1939 i tedeschi invasero la Polonia e concentrarono 400.000 ebrei nel Ghetto di Varsavia per avviare la Soluzione Finale. La maggior parte venne deportata e assassinata nel campo di sterminio di Treblinka.
Il 19 aprile 1943, i pochi ebrei rimasti lanciarono l’Insurrezione del Ghetto, che si concluse dopo un mese senza sopravvissuti.

L’Insurrezione di Varsavia ebbe luogo nel 1944 ad opera della Resistenza Polacca. Alla fine tedeschi espulsero il resto della popolazione e rasero Varsavia al suolo come rappresaglia.
Solo allora le truppe sovietiche dell’Armata Rossa entrarono nelle rovine di Varsavia e liberarono la città.
Circa l’85% della città era stata distrutta. Il bilancio delle vittime dei residenti di Varsavia uccidi dai tedeschi fu di 600.000 persone, di cui 400.000 ebrei.
Dopo la guerra, venne ricostruita una parte della Città Vecchia, ma soprattutto vennero realizzati nuovi progetti urbanistici e un grande piano di edilizia prefabbricata, fino alla caduta del regime comunista nel 1989.

Queste fotografie sono una testimonianza viva e unica della città nel 1981.

El 1 de septiembre de 1939 los alemanes invadieron Polonia y concentraron 400.000 judíos en el gueto de Varsovia para iniciar la Solución Final. La mayoría fueron deportados y asesinados en el campo de la muerte de Treblinka.
El 19 de abril de 1943, los pocos judíos que quedaban lanzaron el Levantamiento del Gueto, que terminó después de un mes sin supervivientes.
El Levantamiento de Varsovia tuvo lugar en 1944 por la Resistencia Polaca. Finalmente los alemanes expulsaron al resto de la población y arrasaron Varsovia como acto de venganza.
Sólo entonces las tropas del Ejército Rojo Soviético entraron en las ruinas de Varsovia y liberaron la ciudad.
Alrededor del 85% de la ciudad había sido destruida. El número de muertos de los residentes de Varsovia asesinados por los alemanes fue de 600.000 personas, incluyendo 400.000 judíos.
Después de la guerra, se reconstruyó una parte del casco antiguo, pero sobre todo se llevaron a cabo nuevos proyectos de urbanismo y un gran plan de viviendas prefabricadas, hasta la caída del régimen comunista en 1989.

Estas fotografías son un testimonio vivo y único de la ciudad en 1981.

alt textThe rest of a destroyed block. 1981
Pedestrian trail in Warsaw suburbs. 1981Varsavia1981-0026
Socialist housing in Warsaw suburbs. 1981Varsavia1981-0008
Inner trail in a prefabricated complex. 1981Varsavia1981-0028-2
Tram stop in Warsaw suburbs. 1981Varsavia1981-0012-2
Tram stop in Warsaw suburb. 1981Varsavia1981-0011
Tram stop in Warsaw suburb. 1981Varsavia1981-0013
Bus stop in Warsaw suburbs. 1981Varsavia1981-0020
Tram stop in Warsaw suburbs, 1981Varsavia1981-0015
A store in an empty central space. 1981Varsavia1981-0022
subtitulo Alt TextDog waiting for his owner outside a supermarket. 1981vbncvncvncv
A pre-war house that survived to destruction. Still has bullets in facade. 1981Varsavia1981-0021
Empty central spaces. 1981Varsavia1981-0007-2
Kids playing in a parking lot. 1981Varsavia1981-0024
Warsaw residential quarter sidewalk. 1981Varsavia1981-0007
Warsaw residential quarter sidewalk. 1981Varsavia1981-0027
Warsaw residential quarter sidewalk. 1981Varsavia1981-0028
Shut down store in city center. 1981Varsavia1981-0012
Ladies' hairdresser. Some very small business were allowed in the Communist economy. 1981Varsavia1981-0006
Traditional housing of the fifthies. 1981Varsavia1981-0023
Street secondhand sale to raise money. 1981Varsavia1981-0005
Food distribution was uneven and, as soon as the news spread that some good had come, immediately created lines of people.Varsavia1981-0002
The supermarket food counter. There we few items available, only a large amount of pickles jars were on the shelfs. 1981Varsavia1981-0010
The main urban transport lines were stormed by the crowd. 1981Varsavia1981-0024-2
Black market of spare parts for cars. 1981Varsavia1981-0026-2
Reading the Solidarnosc bulletin board. Before the coup of General Jaruzelsky on Dec 1981, there was a relative freedom of press because the the Solidarnosc action. 1981Varsavia1981-0021-2
Reading the Solidarnosc magazine. Before the coup of General Jaruzelsky on Dec 1981, there was a relative freedom of press because the the Solidarnosc action. 1981Varsavia1981-0031
Reading independent news. 1981Varsavia1981-0025
A Solidarnosc flier. 1981Varsavia1981-0018
Notice to commemorate the Katyn massacre. In 1940 the Soviet NKVD eliminated 22.000 Polish officers and civilians with the aim to erase the elite of the country that the Russians and the Germans had divided in 1939. 1981Varsavia1981-0019
alt textYoung Pioneers guard of honour at Warsaw Uprising memorial at 7 Zakroczymska Street. 32 Polish resistance fighters from the Zośka battalion of the Armia Krajowa were killed here by the Germans on 30th August 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising. 1981Varsavia1981-0034

Tools: Nikon FM, Nikkor-H 85/1.8, Nikkor-O 35/2, Nikkor-UD 20/3.5, HP5 800
Code of ethics: all the photographs are processed without any changes to the content, alterations, cropping and manipulations of any kind

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution | NonCommercial | NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License


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