WARSAW 45-47, Maria Chrząszczowa

By Archeology of Photography Foundation

Archeology of Photography Foundation

The gallery presents iconic photos of just-after-the-war Warsaw by Polish photographer Maria Chrząszczowa. Photographs show the war-ravaged Warsaw coming back to life as vendors take to the streets again and small businesses spring up.

Near Plac Powstańców Warszawy (then called Plac Napoleona), Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

'The Virgin Mary of Warsaw', Górskiego Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The corner of Nowy Świat Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Unknown street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Maria Chrząszczowa (1913-1979) is best known for her shots of architecture, most of them devoted to Warsaw. Almost her entire photographic output was lost in a fire during the war. The earliest preserved collection is a record of Warsaw in ruins in 1945. The strong symbolic and emotional content of the photographs makes them distinct from other documentary photographs from the period.

Marszałkowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Street market - the corner of Marszałkowska Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

In 1945 Warsaw, the sight of woman with a camera amid the ruins wasn’t a common one, even if we take into account that when people started returning to the city in January 1945, many of those who had a camera and film immediately stated documenting the vastness of the deconstruction. Pictures were being taken by both professionals and amateurs, but primarily by men – women were busy organizing the life of their families.

Mokotów, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Plac Powstańców Warszawy (then called Plac Napoleona), Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Plac Powstańców Warszawy (then called Plac Napoleona), Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Plac Powstańców Warszawy, Warsaw, Poland by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Drifting through a sea of ruins, Chrząszczowa recorded evidence of not only Warsaw’s destruction, but also of its vitality as it rose from its knees. The destruction of some 80 per cent of Warsaw’s buildings was an obvious loss. But it was also an opportunity. ‘We must build on a clear site!’ Le Corbusier stressed. Leaving aside the political circumstances, the wrongs and losses, the city’s near-destruction made possible (in theory at least) the creation of an urban organism genetically unencumbered and the realisation of many pre-war plans.

Ruins of unknown building (probably church), Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Former Jewish Ghetto area, Muranów, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The photographs from a walk around the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto are a document of both loss and a new beginning. Particularly in Chrząszczowa’s picturesque, somewhat unreal images, the heaps of rubble look like geological formations, a virgin land waiting for an act of creation. It is worth remembering that the Jewish district was pre-1939 Warsaw’s pang of conscience, and not for religious reasons. The area had the highest development and population density in the city and alarming health and hygiene statistics; to address this, long-term revival plans were drawn up in the 1930s. Actual changes took place only after the war: in the early 1950s, the fi rst quarters of a new estate, called Muranów - housing estate on the site of the former ghetto, were built to the design of Bohdan Lachert, with respect for the place’s memory, but with no sentiments towards the sick urban tissue.

Polna Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Shortly before the war, a new upmarket residential district, named after Marshal Józef Piłsudski, was planned in the Pole Mokotowskie green area. At the rear of Polna Street, where the cows can be seen, the National Library building was to be erected. On the right are the light-coloured residential buildings, designed in the late 1930s, at the corner of Polna Street and Oleandrów Street, and in the background, the Warsaw University of Technology main building with the skylight above the lecture hall destroyed.

Plac Politechniki (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The main Warsaw University of Technology building survived the war with relatively little damage. The Warsaw Reconstruction Bureau, estimated the burn rate of the interior at 60 per cent. The building was reopened in December 1948, on the eve of a crucial party congress that took place in the neo-Renaissance main hall. The congress saw the communist PPR ‘merge’ with the socialist PPS to create the now mono-party, PZPR. Plac Politechniki was renamed Workers’ Unity Square (plac Jedności Robotniczej) in memory of the event. The main building’s reconstruction was offi cially completed only in 1950 and the sculpted fi nial had to wait another dozen or so years for its turn.

Advertising for an exhibition at Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

An exhibition presenting the wartime eff ort of the RAF and its Polish, Czech, Danish, and Greek units opened on 29 October 1945 at the National Museum, announced by a mock air bomb installed at Aleje Jerozolimskie.

The corner of Kozia Street and Miodowa Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Ruins of the Old Town Market Square in Warsaw, The Kołłątaj side (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Ruins of the Royal Castle, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Ruins of the Royal Castle as seen from the side of Piwna Street (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Ruins of St. Alexander's Church, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Gothic church walls that had until then been covered by layers of plaster, paint or decoration. Brutal cuts made it possible to learn buildings’ history in cross section and put forward new hypotheses about their original appearance. Destruction and the subsequent reconstruction made possible among others returning to the original, classical form of St. Alexander Church in Plac Trzech Krzyży and aligning the dimensions and correcting proportions of buildings at streets that were planned to be regulated even before the war, that is, primarily, Krakowskie Przedmieście and Nowy Świat.

At the back of the Holy Cross Church, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The rear of Nowy Świat Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Kierbedź Bridge, Warsaw, Poland, 1945 (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The 19th-century Kierbedź Bridge was never rebuilt. The Śląsko-Dąbrowski Bridge was opened on its place, using the old piers, in 1949.

Public transport in Warsaw, Poland (1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

There was no regular municipal public transit service after the city was reopened for residents. Adapted trucks, wagons, and bicycles were used, while automobiles were a rare luxury.

The Main Train Station, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

One of the most exquisite buildings of Starzyński’s Warsaw, the envisaged Warsaw of the 1940s, would have been the Central Train Station in Aleje Jerozolimskie, designed by Czesław Przybylski. It was to become Poland’s largest train station, with an extensive propaganda-decoration program, one of its main themes being precisely Warsaw as the country’s capital.18 The building, almost completed, was attacked by a fi re in June 1939, but was quickly renovated by the reoccupation authorities and put into operation as Warschau Hauptbahnhof. It was only during the Warsaw Uprising that it was dealt a deadly blow and afterwards the mighty ruin of the steel structure of the high departures hall haunted in the centre of Warsaw. After war the ruins were cleared, and in 1955 the Warszawa Środmieście underground station for regional trains was opened here.

Bus stand near the Main Train Station, Warsaw, Poland (1946/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Bus stand at the corner of Marszałkowska Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, Poland (1946/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Mokotowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Shrine at Mokotowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Mokotowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The corner of Marszałkowska Street and Świętokrzyska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Chrząszczowa is close to daily life, in which pathos of the ruins, mourning, and the trauma, felt by many, of the lost Uprising and having lost everything they had, were mixed with enthusiasm of reconstruction, propaganda, and the daily hustle and bustle.

The 'Erjot' fishmonger’s shop, Warsaw, Poland by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Spacerowa Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The area is today’s Spacerowa Street, 1945.
On the left, the rear of the Hygiene Institute building; in the background in the centre, the Seidman house at Chocimska Street 33, completed in 1938 to the design of Maksymilian Goldberg and Hipolit Rutkowski. Already in early 1945, on the day of his return to Warsaw, Józef Sigalin, head of the Warsaw Reconstruction Bureau, chose the surviving building for the Bureau’s headquarters. Today the house is a residential building again.

The corner of Bracka Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, Poland by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Krucza Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Chrząszczowa’s photographs were shown on the significant, first after war exhibition in National Museum “Warsaw accuses”. However, the material created by Chrząszczowa rises above any implied accusations. It is a manifesto of pacifism and vitality. It shows not only what was lost, but also the city’s revival and will of life, which took root in the ruins regardless of which side of the Iron Curtain Warsaw found itself on.

Kołodziejski's Stall, Marszałkowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Marszałkowska Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

At first, only the necessities appear in the street stalls, but soon Warsaw starts buying luxury items too: flowers and books.

Szpitalna Street at the junction of Bracka Street and Chmielna Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Marszałkowska Street 76, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Chmielna Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1947) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

A pâté shop called On the Ruins opens at Sienkiewicza Street 8, and in September 1945, at Chmielna Street 33, Kino Atlantic, left-bank Warsaw’s first post-war movie theatre, re-opens for the public. Instead of farewells, there are more and more welcomes and first times: first stalls, first tramways, first shops. This is not just the life of Robinson Crusoes, but of people who have no intention of leaving their city.

Chmielna Street, Warsaw, Poland (1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Chmielna Street, Warsaw, Poland (1945) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

On the left a poster for Freud’s Dream Theory, a theatre play that opened just before the war.

The intersection of Marszałkowska Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie, Warsaw, Poland (1945/1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

The city’s revival stands as a genuine miracle. If we take into account that at least one in two inhabitants today wasn’t even born in Warsaw and that of the city’s 1.2 million pre-war residents, only 200,000 managed to return, it means that most of Varsovians today are descendants of pioneers or pioneers themselves, who have come to the city from all over the country and with their daily effort keep ‘building their capital’.

Plac Zbawiciela, Warsaw, Poland (1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Plac Zbawiciela, Warsaw, Poland (1946) by Maria ChrząszczowaArcheology of Photography Foundation

Credits: Story

Used fragments of texts: by Grzegorz Piątek 'An End and a Beginning' and by Karolina Lewandowska 'The Two Chroniclers' from the book 'The Chroniclers. Zofia Chomętowska – Maria Chrząszczowa. Photographs of Warsaw 1945-46' edited by Karolina Lewandowska, published by Archeology of Photography Foundation, Warsaw 2012.

Archeology of Photography Foundation is taking care of Maria Chrząszczowa's archives.

More photos:
http://www.faf.org.pl/en/image/tid/269

The author of all photographs is Maria Chrząszczowa (1913-1979) – Polish photographer best known for her shots of architecture, most of them devoted to Warsaw. She was born into a family of Warsaw industrialists and first came in contact with photography frequenting the two-year Photography School in Warsaw. After her marriage she moved in the countryside. In spite of relocating and changing her lifestyle she did not cease photographing, to the contrary, she intensified her practice. She captured family celebrations, everyday life in the countryside. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, in September 1939, she moved back to Warsaw. Almost her entire photographic output was lost in a fire during the war. The earliest preserved collection is a record of Warsaw in ruins. Towards the end of the 1945, Chrząszczowa documented the Auschwitz extermination camp and the cities of Wroclaw, Jelenia Góra and Kłodzko. Having returned to Warsaw, she worked as a photographer up till the mid-1970s, for, amongst others, the Polish Press Agency. From 1953 to 1974, Chrząszczowa ran a photographic studio at the Faculty of Polish Architecture at Warsaw Polytechnic.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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