World War II was merciless to Warsaw. The city came out of the war as fields of ruins with most of its antebellum citizens either exterminated or displaced. Perhaps more than any other metropolitan center in Eastern Europe, Warsaw between 1939 and 1945 can be described as a city that went through the urbicide – the systematic murdering of historically diverse and evolving urban organisms. Its post-war reconstruction under the externally enforced regime of state socialism posed multiple problems both from the perspective of preservation and urban planning. The excursion to Warsaw will focus on the post-World War II reconstruction of the city and the decisions made during the second half of the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1960s that define the development of the city until present. Students will learn about the history of the city, the competing perspectives on the reconstruction of its historic neighborhoods, and the state socialist ideas about the development of Warsaw as a center of industrial production intended to forge the new Polish proletariat loyal to the Communist ideological cause.
Language of instruction: English