Urban Development and the Politics of History. Historic Districts as Objects of Conservation in Socialist Poland (1945–1980)

Abstract

The history of conservation in post-war Poland was characterised by a number of spectacular undertakings in the field of rebuilding and restoring historic districts. The social and economic factors that enabled such large-scale interventions provided the socialist state with an opportunity to shape a more general vision of local and national history. Historic districts provide important material testimony of not only urban history but also its social, economic, political, and cultural contexts. Architectural and urban modifications in such specific spaces influenced the way in which the past was (or was expected to be) seen at that time, with the intention of explaining and justifying the present, namely socialist rule in Poland. Although the socialist regime was based on an ideology of progress and revolution, it also apparently needed to be grounded in history to secure its legitimacy. This was also consistent with the fundamental assumption of Marxist philosophy of history, according to which socialism was the result of a centuries-old teleological historical process. This chapter analyses various examples of interventions in Poland’s urban heritage between the late 1940s and the 1970s. In particular, it shows how the development of the state’s policy towards historic districts (and thus also the changing character of the interventions) reflected the political evolution of the socialist regime itself. The chapter is divided into three sections, aside from the introduction and the conclusion. The first is dedicated to the pre-war situation, the second part focuses on reconstructions of historic districts in Warsaw, Gdańsk, and Poznań, while the third section deals with the restoration of preserved historic districts in Kraków, Toruń, and Sandomierz.