0:00:02 > 0:00:05BELL CHIMES
0:00:08 > 0:00:12It's Easter in Poland's capital, Warsaw.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17The people gather to commemorate the crucifixion of Christ...
0:00:17 > 0:00:18and the resurrection.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27I haven't been back to Warsaw since I lived here as a child.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I was seven when I moved here with my family.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33My father had a job in the city.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36It is of course strange to be back.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41I'm sure much has changed, but also much, to me, seems the same.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44It is, in a sense, like coming home.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48What is certain though, to me, is that what I saw here,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52what I felt here as a child has had a huge influence on my life.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01I'm going to explore my memories...
0:01:03 > 0:01:05..the memories of the city...
0:01:07 > 0:01:09..and the memories of its people.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13Warsaw was victim of one of the most atrocious
0:01:13 > 0:01:16crimes of the 20th century,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20when Hitler's Nazis tried to wipe it off the face of the earth.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30No city in modern history has endured such appalling
0:01:30 > 0:01:32devastation and loss.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38No city has had the courage
0:01:38 > 0:01:41and willpower to rise up from the ashes...
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and to rebuild the past.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51We're now used to intolerance and to attacks on beauty and culture.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57The Poles, in their courageous recreation of their lost city,
0:01:57 > 0:02:02the regaining of their lost beauty, are an inspiration for all of us.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Warsaw is the city that came back from the dead,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15in the most miraculous of resurrections.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48In the summer of 1956,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52the Cruickshank family sailed eastwards on MS Batory.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58We were heading for a new home in Poland.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04At the age of seven, this was my first adventure abroad.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09It was all because my father, Gordon, had a job as a journalist
0:03:09 > 0:03:13with the London Daily Worker, a communist newspaper.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Now that idea seems unusual, outlandish even.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23After all, we were going behind the Iron Curtain to
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Warsaw at the height of the Cold War.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31It was a decade or so after the end of the World War II,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33which had left the city devastated.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41I was last here in Warsaw almost 60 years ago,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46I was very young, but I have been back many times in my imagination.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49I think about it an awful lot.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52My memory is that the city was almost still a smoking
0:03:52 > 0:03:54ruin from the war.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01This is the stuff of my dreams, you know.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Absolutely amazing experience.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07There are things I'm now noticing, these great statutes which,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09for a child, would have been terribly attractive
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and should be burnt into my memory.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16And for a child of seven, it was utterly romantic.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19I loved it. I loved the ruins.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23It was a trip into the dark recesses of my mind,
0:04:23 > 0:04:28a trip into what was one of the very dark places of Earth in the 1950s.
0:04:36 > 0:04:42I'm on my way to the Old Town of Warsaw, where we used to live.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44It dates back to the mid-17th century,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46but had been almost levelled during the war.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51When I was last here, most of it had been recently rebuilt.
0:05:09 > 0:05:10HE LAUGHS
0:05:10 > 0:05:13This is amazing. Walking back into my own childhood.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18This is the market place, the market square - the heart of the Old Town.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20This is where I grew up.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23I often think about this space.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27A wonderful, mellow atmosphere the buildings have, antique
0:05:27 > 0:05:28and ancient in feel.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35Charming, these astonishing moments. Stabbing memories. Laser-like.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Suddenly little things I've forgotten for nearly 60 years come back.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46I remember being entranced by the Old Town.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49The bold colours, yellow ochre.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54And, of course, the vivid, Baroque detail everywhere.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59It's hard to believe that most of this was meticulously
0:05:59 > 0:06:02recreated just 60 years ago.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11Amazing - I remember those, the putti with the goat,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and naughty little boys,
0:06:13 > 0:06:18naughty fellows with their baskets of grapes, Bacchanalian scene...
0:06:18 > 0:06:21musical parade, tambourines.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Now, the thing is...to work out exactly where I lived.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29I've got here, as it happens... It may seem strange that
0:06:29 > 0:06:32I should keep such things, but I didn't - my mother did, or my father.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36It's my exercise book from school, when I went to school in Warsaw.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Here it is.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42"5th of September 1957."
0:06:42 > 0:06:45It's a mathematical problem that I had to solve then.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48I fear... I don't know, I think I got it right.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50But here we are, look.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52"Swietojanska", which is St John's Street.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Number 33, flat two.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11Swietojanska, St John's Street, number 33/2, first floor.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14That's our living room and our kitchen up there.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18What a lovely building. What a lovely place to live.
0:07:23 > 0:07:24This is my door.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35BUZZER Ah!
0:07:38 > 0:07:40Oh, the staircase.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Ah, well, there you go, number two.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51As on my school exercise book.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Good heavens. OK. Ah.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56HE KNOCKS
0:07:58 > 0:07:59HE LAUGHS
0:07:59 > 0:08:02It's bizarre. Um. Ah!
0:08:02 > 0:08:06- Hello.- Ah, hi, my name is Dan Cruickshank.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I used to live here. Many, many years ago.
0:08:10 > 0:08:11OK.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17The new tenant of my old home is Bert Coslow from Texas.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20- Can I just look through the window? - Please, go ahead.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24'It's a moment I've dreamt about for years.'
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Well, well, well, well, well.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Now, I made a series of drawings from this very window.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37- You made this from this window? - From this window.
0:08:37 > 0:08:41- And how old were you?- Well, I was seven, I was about seven years old.
0:08:41 > 0:08:43- It's quite good for a seven-year-old.- Oh, is it?
0:08:43 > 0:08:46- Thank you.- You can clearly see, looking at this, to me there is
0:08:46 > 0:08:47no doubt in my mind what's being portrayed.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50I suppose what enthralled me was, of course, that these
0:08:50 > 0:08:52are things calculated to really engage children.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54I mean, the lion over there.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00- And this sort of dragon finial at the top.- Yeah.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02And, of course, the amazing clock.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08And then the view in to the square itself.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And these are very interesting drawings, I can say that myself.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14It's such a long time ago, isn't it? It's hardly me.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16But the detail, the loving detail,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20the observation does suggest the beginnings of my passion
0:09:20 > 0:09:23for architecture, which becomes the ruling thing of my life.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Seems to be, seems to be that the foundations
0:09:26 > 0:09:28are certainly here in 1957.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Clearly, this drawing, this view from here,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37- through this window, of this space, is where it all starts for me.- Yeah.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Something big has changed since I was last here.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03The old market square has a happy-go-lucky atmosphere...
0:10:03 > 0:10:07not the muted, solemn place of my memories.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16You see, the scene I just walked past, the chap in the wheelchair
0:10:16 > 0:10:19with no legs, that's it, that's what I remember. Amazing.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Damaged people, physically damaged people from the uprising,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24from the war. Mentally damaged people.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29And here is a chap sitting there, as if it was 60 years ago.
0:10:29 > 0:10:30That was very odd.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41As a seven-year-old, I didn't understand how
0:10:41 > 0:10:44dreadfully Warsaw had suffered during the Second World War.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49I was fortunate not to witness the death and destruction.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55But there were reminders of it all over the city.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58Shrines commemorating the victims of the war.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03It was a city risen from the ruins, a city mourning the dead.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21It went far beyond the destruction that might be anticipated in war.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25In fact, Warsaw was the victim of a war crime almost
0:11:25 > 0:11:30unprecedented in history, a crime premeditated by the Nazis
0:11:30 > 0:11:32even before the war started.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43Hitler set out to eradicate Warsaw and annihilate its people.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51The damning evidence is to be found at the Institute of National Remembrance,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55which holds records of Nazi atrocities against Poland.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Hitler's intentions were clinically laid out in a series of plans
0:12:02 > 0:12:07named after Friedrich Pabst, the Nazis' "Chief Architect for Warsaw"
0:12:12 > 0:12:16This set of plans...is chilling...
0:12:16 > 0:12:18shocking.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22They detail the near total
0:12:22 > 0:12:24obliteration of Warsaw
0:12:24 > 0:12:28and its replacement by a smaller town
0:12:28 > 0:12:31for German settlers and officials.
0:12:31 > 0:12:36They're dated. Here we have the 6th of February, 1940.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40And culminate with a proposal for its destruction.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44This is why it's chilling.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48A rather lovingly detailed and created model of the old city
0:12:48 > 0:12:51of Warsaw, in the 17th century.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55And then here we see its replacement,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59removal, by this rather banal looking -
0:12:59 > 0:13:02architecturally banal looking - German settlement,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Really depressing, really depressing.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08But also another detail so revealing.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10The parts of the Old Town,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14of Warsaw's Stare Miasto, are left in place, because
0:13:14 > 0:13:18the Nazis had perceived within the fabric of the Old Town
0:13:18 > 0:13:22some Germanic qualities. They wanted to keep the Old Town
0:13:22 > 0:13:25because, in a sense, preserving it suggested that
0:13:25 > 0:13:27the Germans were here before.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30It justified their...
0:13:30 > 0:13:32determination to annexe Poland
0:13:32 > 0:13:36and to create this Germanic settlement on the site of Warsaw.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38This is, of course, an attack on architectural history
0:13:38 > 0:13:40and on architectural beauty.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44But the bigger thing is it reflects Hitler's and the Nazis' hatred
0:13:44 > 0:13:46of Poland and the Poles.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49To destroy Warsaw was to destroy
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Polish pride, Polish identity,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Polish hopes for the future. That's what this is really about.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Poland's descent into hell began with the German
0:14:11 > 0:14:15invasion on 1st September, 1939.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18It caused the outbreak of World War II.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Wanda Traczyk-Stawska lived through the horrors of Nazi occupation.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59It would be almost five years before Warsaw fought back,
0:15:59 > 0:16:04when the Polish home army tried to drive the Germans out of the city.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The uprising, which started on the 1st August, 1944,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12lasted 63 days.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16The Poles exhibited great heroism and self sacrifice.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20But, in the end, the Nazis crushed them with shocking brutality.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28Wanda was one of many women who took up arms against the Nazis.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36How do you feel now, 70 years on or so, from the uprising?
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Do you feel it was doomed from the beginning?
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Was it worth the destruction of Warsaw?
0:17:11 > 0:17:15But the consequences were appalling, as Hitler ordered
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Warsaw to be razed to the ground.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26This computer graphic reveals
0:17:26 > 0:17:28the enormity of the destruction.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33The Old Town, one of the centres of Polish
0:17:33 > 0:17:37resistance during the uprising, was systematically destroyed.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Historic buildings, including the castle, were set ablaze
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and blown up with high explosives.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50The Jewish ghetto, the largest in Nazi-controlled Europe,
0:17:50 > 0:17:56had been levelled in 1943 and its population virtually wiped out,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59either in the city or extermination camps.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05By the end of the war, nearly 90% of Warsaw lay in ruins.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09But this was not the end of the nightmare.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16The Poles had been encouraged to rise up by the Soviets,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18who were closing in on Warsaw.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24But then they stood by and let the Nazis destroy the city
0:18:24 > 0:18:28and undermine Poland's battle for independence.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33They had plans of their own.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58The human cost of the uprising was huge.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02The population of Warsaw had been crushed by the brutal
0:19:02 > 0:19:03and vengeful Nazis.
0:19:03 > 0:19:07Around 200,000 people had died.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10And now they faced a future under the yoke of the Soviet Union,
0:19:10 > 0:19:15which had betrayed them in their hour of need.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19The future of Warsaw as a capital city hung in the balance.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28All hope of Poland regaining its independence was finally dashed,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31as it passed from one totalitarian overlord to another.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38It became a Soviet puppet state, led by a hardline Stalinist government.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45By 1956, the regime had arrested 250,000 Poles
0:19:45 > 0:19:48regarded as "traitors" for fighting to establish a free
0:19:48 > 0:19:50and independent nation.
0:19:53 > 0:19:5920,000 died in prison and 3,000 were executed...
0:19:59 > 0:20:01their fate kept secret.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Given what we now know, it might seem shocking that it was
0:20:09 > 0:20:13my father's communist convictions that brought us to Warsaw.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20Gordon Cruickshank is the correspondent here for London Daily Worker.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25In 1957, he was interviewed by Christopher Chataway for the BBC.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29What proportion of the ordinary people do you think are really communists?
0:20:29 > 0:20:33I would say that the vast mass of the Polish people,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35to my mind and from my experience...
0:20:37 > 0:20:40..support a socialist economy.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42That is to say they don't want landlords back,
0:20:42 > 0:20:47they don't want private ownership of factories and industry back at all.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53My father was not alone in his beliefs.
0:20:53 > 0:20:58Like many, he'd become a communist in the late 1930s to fight fascism.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And, despite the brutal reality of Stalinism,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04he still believed that communism could help build a better world.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14Back in 1945, Poland's Stalinist government had taken
0:21:14 > 0:21:18the decision to rebuild Warsaw as the capital.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20But they weren't interested in the old city -
0:21:20 > 0:21:23they had a vision for a socialist utopia.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33They built a state of the art transport network,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36with brand-new trams to replace the ones destroyed during the war.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42I remember being frightened of trams as a child here.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44There weren't trams in London.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47I was particularly fearful of the junctions.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50I saw an accident at a junction, which of course confirmed that
0:21:50 > 0:21:54I was right to be fearful of these frightful devices, these trams.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00Um... Ah, I press the button to get on.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Ah, here we go, this is lovely.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15We're going down this great avenue,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19the great Stalinist avenue in reconstructed Warsaw.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Each side are these neo-classical blocks, clad with stone mostly.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28This was, of course, the Soviet vision for the new Warsaw.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Oh, look, there's the Palace of Culture.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46'The Palace of Culture and Science - Russia's gift to Warsaw -
0:22:46 > 0:22:50'looks down on the Polish capital's National Day parade.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53'The Poles are a determined people and their capital is rapidly
0:22:53 > 0:22:57'regaining its position as one of Europe's most beautiful cities.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00'And it's not only their buildings that look good.'
0:23:01 > 0:23:03The Palace was completed in 1955,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07so, virtually new when I arrived in the city.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10And, even as a young child, I soon learned that the people of Warsaw
0:23:10 > 0:23:15did not like this unwelcome gift from the Soviet authorities.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19They regarded it as a cynical and calculated imposition,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and hardly a gift as it was largely paid for by the Soviet exploitation
0:23:23 > 0:23:25of Poland's natural resources.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29And, architecturally, there were already seven towers like this
0:23:29 > 0:23:32in Moscow, called Stalin's Seven Sisters,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36so, for the people of Warsaw, this was no more than a Soviet brand
0:23:36 > 0:23:39burnt into the soul of their city.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48At 231 metres,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51it's still Poland's tallest building
0:23:51 > 0:23:55and, love it or loathe it, it has become THE symbol of Warsaw.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07The rebuilding of Warsaw after 1945 was a complex business.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Very quickly, two parallel visions started to emerge.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16One was for the creation of a typical Soviet-style city
0:24:16 > 0:24:19with straight boulevards - you can see one over there,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22lined with stone-clad apartment blocks,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24for the official families, I suppose.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28And concrete-built housing estates over there,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31rather grim, for the workers.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36The other vision was inspired by Warsaw history,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39for the recreation of the Old Town.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42And you can see the Old Town over there, ultimately recreated,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46characterised by low-rise red pantile roofs,
0:24:46 > 0:24:47a dash of exotic colour.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51That vision was driven by the people of Warsaw.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56The loss of the beloved Old Town to Nazi barbarity was intolerable.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58It had to be recreated.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00A great wrong had to be put right.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12As a seven-year-old boy, I wasn't aware of this clash of styles -
0:25:12 > 0:25:16the gargantuan Stalinist edifice that touched the sky
0:25:16 > 0:25:19versus the quaint 'old' houses and beautiful square
0:25:19 > 0:25:21which I loved.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26What I didn't know then was that rebuilding the city had been
0:25:26 > 0:25:30one of the most daunting reconstruction jobs in history.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36In January 1945, it must have felt like the end of the world in Warsaw.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The man who led the campaign to convince the Communists
0:25:47 > 0:25:52to rebuild the past was Warsaw architect Jan Zachwatowicz.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00I've come to visit his daughter Krystyna,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04who, as a teenager, had fought in the Warsaw uprising.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09Your father's spontaneous reaction was to rebuild the city
0:26:09 > 0:26:12because it represented their identity, their pride,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15but this had to take place within a changed world -
0:26:15 > 0:26:19the world of a new communist regime. These things had to be reconciled.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22How did your father find it possible? Was it difficult?
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Did he have to persuade the new authorities
0:26:24 > 0:26:25to recreate the historic quarter?
0:27:40 > 0:27:43This was Warsaw's year zero.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46But the people needed more than just memories
0:27:46 > 0:27:48to bring the past back to life.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52With the city so utterly flattened, they needed something more tangible
0:27:52 > 0:27:54to go on.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Plans, paintings or photographs.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09I've come to a Warsaw peep show,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12which is not what you might think it is, despite appearances.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15It is in fact the Fotoplastikon -
0:28:15 > 0:28:19a remarkable institution that survived both World Wars.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22It is now an invaluable time machine
0:28:22 > 0:28:27containing photographs of Warsaw before its destruction in 1944.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Oh, well, that's lovely.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38That is, I suppose, a late 19th century, exotic, Edwardian scene.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41They're 3D. It's amazing. Oh, this a fantastic image.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44This shows the Castle Square.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Now we get insight into the cosmopolitan and rich
0:28:47 > 0:28:50and romantic life of Warsaw before the destruction.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52This is 1895.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Here's a lovely...
0:28:56 > 0:28:57big avenue.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59looks like Paris.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03Oh, the famous steps Of the Old Town.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06A narrow alley of steps. Not much has changed.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09I can probably see myself walking through that, actually.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21This is a fantastic document
0:29:21 > 0:29:23to inform the reconstruction.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Essential...that's the sort of essential information needed
0:29:26 > 0:29:28to rebuild the city after the war.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Not just information, but architectural detail,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34which was essential, but also, in a sense, I suppose,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38they encapsulate memories of the city as a lively, romantic place -
0:29:38 > 0:29:40a place with a Parisian quality.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43You can fully understand why the people of Warsaw,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47having lost their city, they also lost the life that went with it.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50So it was to recreate, of course, the architecture
0:29:50 > 0:29:53and also, as far as possible, to recapture and recreate the life
0:29:53 > 0:29:57lived within the theatre of the ancient architecture,
0:29:57 > 0:29:58this historic architecture.
0:29:58 > 0:30:03Amazing vignette, amazing little time machine back to what had been
0:30:03 > 0:30:07a lost and much regretted period in the history of the city.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30The photographs were a good start,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32but the architects delved further into the past
0:30:32 > 0:30:35for a more picturesque muse.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48A superb collection of paintings of Warsaw in this room
0:30:48 > 0:30:50were made in the late 1770s
0:30:50 > 0:30:53by an Italian artist called Bernardo Bellotto.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55But he tended to use the name
0:30:55 > 0:30:58of his more famous artist uncle - Canaletto.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05As a court painter to the king,
0:31:05 > 0:31:09he produced 26 cityscapes for the royal castle.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14The second half of the 18th century
0:31:14 > 0:31:17was the era of the Polish Enlightenment
0:31:17 > 0:31:22when the nation was at the height of its prestige, power and prosperity.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32These paintings contain lots of lovely detail, of course,
0:31:32 > 0:31:37therefore perfect to use for the reconstruction of Warsaw.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42But there is also, I must say, a lot of poetic license.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46The artist is creating an ideal vision of Warsaw
0:31:46 > 0:31:50and contrives to make it look, occasionally, rather like Rome.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52Why not? The model.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54So this, in a way, is a dream of Warsaw -
0:31:54 > 0:31:56a late 18th century dream of Warsaw.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58Warsaw as it ought to have been.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01Well, certainly as far as Bellotto was concerned.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05Look at this. It is absolutely wonderful.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Almost photographic, but not quite,
0:32:07 > 0:32:09because things have been slightly manipulated
0:32:09 > 0:32:12for the most powerful visual architectural effect.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15A bit like how Canaletto made London look like Venice.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Perfectly understandable.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29In the grim 1940s,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33Bellotto's magical images were far more real,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36more compelling than reality.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40They captured the beauty of the lost past.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Bellotto's paintings alone were not enough to rebuild the lost city.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Precise, technical drawings were needed.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07Miraculously, plans of the old town, drawn by architectural students
0:33:07 > 0:33:10before the war, also survived.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18They were smuggled out of the city after the uprising under the noses
0:33:18 > 0:33:22of the Nazis and hidden in a church in the coffins of monks.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Here are copies of some of the drawings.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39They're a wonderful quality.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43These are really good and informed architecture students.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45They knew their classical details.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48Here is the elevation of the block of buildings opposite me
0:33:48 > 0:33:50in the Market Place.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53You can see, here they are, drawn in the 1930s
0:33:53 > 0:33:55as they were before destruction
0:33:55 > 0:33:57and then as recreated.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01And much of that recreation is based on, inspired by, informed by,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03this drawing.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Then there are wonderful details.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09For example, one of the houses opposite is shown in some detail,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11there it is, with that interesting door.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14And then there are drawings of windows and doors.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16This one dated 1932.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20There's another thing to be extracted from studying these drawings.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22Some of the buildings as recreated
0:34:22 > 0:34:25don't exactly correspond to the 1930s surveys.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27They've been tweaked.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30Some later details, for example, 19th century doors or shop fronts
0:34:30 > 0:34:32were not reconstructed.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Instead, the architects returned to the world of the 18th century.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39So one can see mostly shops and ground floors
0:34:39 > 0:34:41and some windows, as shown here,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43are distinctly different from the recreation,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46which is to say, therefore, that the Old Town of Warsaw
0:34:46 > 0:34:51is not an absolute replica of what was destroyed in 1944,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55but a very spirited, very moving return
0:34:55 > 0:34:57to a sort of 18th century ideal.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09The plans were the key to reconstructing the Old Town.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13But there was still a terrifying amount of work to do.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22The people didn't want a Disney-style theme park.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24It had to be faithful to the past
0:35:24 > 0:35:28so the Old Town became a huge research laboratory.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33Archaeologists sifted through rubble, salvaging what details they could.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Everybody played their part in an inspiring grassroots movement
0:35:38 > 0:35:41to save their history and rebuild their past.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Among them was Irena Dawozianska.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01As I walk around the old Market Square,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06I try to spot architectural details that were salvaged from the ruins
0:37:06 > 0:37:09or those that were recreated from scratch.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13Memories flood back.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18All the charming details that I sketched as a boy.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21Even with all my years of experience,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25I am, at times, hard pushed to spot the difference.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35Among the few buildings to survive the war, damaged but not destroyed,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37was the city museum.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40It's a place I loved as a boy.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47I long to return so I meet Anna Zasadzinska,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51who works for the museum, which is currently closed for repairs.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55Before the war, the three houses that we can see in front of us -
0:37:55 > 0:37:59the three in the centre - were bought by the city,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01just to create a city museum there.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03Are they about the only ones that survived
0:38:03 > 0:38:05in the whole of the Old Town?
0:38:05 > 0:38:08There were five in total that survived
0:38:08 > 0:38:11and three of them we're just seeing now.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15Out of many, many hundreds, five is heartbreaking, isn't it?
0:38:15 > 0:38:1890% of the buildings were destructed.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Oh, gosh.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22It must have been very hard to have lost so much.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25But then the reconstruction is very good, isn't it?
0:38:25 > 0:38:26Exactly.
0:38:26 > 0:38:32Because after the 60 years, the Old Town really looks quite old.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Exactly. That's good. That's exactly right.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38It's developed a pattern of age. The materials have weathered well.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42I mean, because, presumably, the materials that were used -
0:38:42 > 0:38:44good stucco, good bricks -
0:38:44 > 0:38:48it's aged, it's weathered very convincingly.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52- Do you like it?- I do. I love it.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Anna, thank you very much.
0:39:01 > 0:39:02OK. Up I go.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05- You're going to stay here. Very wise. - Good luck.- Thank you.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07Oops.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11When I see scaffolding, my spirits soar.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15This group of three houses that survived the war
0:39:15 > 0:39:18gives me the chance to compare the old with the new.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24Now, here we are.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28This is one of the authentic elevations
0:39:28 > 0:39:32and it's very exciting to be so up close to it.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Erm, lovely. Ah, there's the Moor's Head.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39We know this is new, recreated since the War,
0:39:39 > 0:39:40but very well done.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43The original is in the museum now.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45The key thing is to look at the materials.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47Of course these buildings...
0:39:47 > 0:39:50are rendered with lime render,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53not, of course, not cement.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56And this is a patch of original treatment.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00A soft, undulating, sensuous surface.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Lovely to touch.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05So important to get that right in the repaired buildings.
0:40:05 > 0:40:09Looking around, one can see that mostly in the early '50s,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11lime render was used.
0:40:11 > 0:40:16That's the great key to giving repaired or recreated buildings
0:40:16 > 0:40:18an authentic, artistic feel.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Almost 60 years since I last came here with my school,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37I've been given privileged access to go inside.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Let's have a look.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51'Like outside, the interiors are a happy marriage of what survived
0:40:51 > 0:40:55'in place, what was salvaged, and what was recreated.'
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Oh, my goodness me. Look at this.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01God, this is wonderful!
0:41:02 > 0:41:06I mean, some must be repaired, but mostly it seems authentic.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11I had no idea of the quality. It's just not facades that survive.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14This is an entire historic building.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22'It was down to a stroke of good fortune
0:41:22 > 0:41:24'that these interiors survived.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28'The houses had been fireproofed just before the war.'
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Oh! A huge staircase. Look at this.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40A wonderful face,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43but not enough wear and tear as the centuries.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47So a brilliant piece of recreation, I suppose,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50but, my goodness me, it's thoroughly done.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52Oh, look, a lovely bunch of grapes.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57So one knows we're in the world of good wine. Feasting.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00So up to the bedroom level,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03originally, the family level.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08I'll go through...and along.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Oh...oh! Good heavens.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14They're full of treasures, these houses,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17completely amazing, unexpected discoveries.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19A miraculous survival.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Biblical scenes on this painted ceiling.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24Look at it.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27I had no idea this was here.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29Early 18th century, I suppose.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31A...picturesque scene.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35A ruined castle, a chap crossing the bridge with his cow.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38The colours now muted, of course.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43But isn't it amazing it's here, this ceiling?
0:42:43 > 0:42:45That it survives at all.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48The epicentre, this heart of darkness,
0:42:48 > 0:42:51this mouth of hell in late 1944,
0:42:51 > 0:42:56everything being consumed by fire, set by these vengeful Nazis,
0:42:56 > 0:42:59yet, in some magical way, this fragile ceiling of timber,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02with these biblical scenes survived.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05Good heavens.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17While the people of Warsaw tried to put the horrors of the Nazis
0:43:17 > 0:43:20behind them, they lived under the shadow of Stalinism.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25But when I arrived here in late 1956,
0:43:25 > 0:43:28the tide of Soviet oppression seemed to be turning.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Stalin was dead and all over Eastern Europe,
0:43:35 > 0:43:39people were rejecting rule from Moscow.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42The political killings had stopped in Poland,
0:43:42 > 0:43:46but people were still struggling for a brighter future.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53My father, Gordon, was posted here to report on the momentous changes.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00He used to meet fellow journalists in the bar of the Bristol Hotel.
0:44:04 > 0:44:05Wiener Schnitzel.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09This was my treat as a child in Warsaw.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14A Sunday treat. Lovely.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20I've got articles in front of me written by my father,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22published in the Daily Worker.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25October, 1956, headline:
0:44:25 > 0:44:27"The Warsaw Way To Socialism.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31"These stirring pictures of the great mass movement that swept Poland
0:44:31 > 0:44:35"a week ago have come to us from our Warsaw correspondent
0:44:35 > 0:44:37"Gordon Cruickshank.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41"The enthusiasm and happiness written on their faces
0:44:41 > 0:44:43"as the changes become known
0:44:43 > 0:44:48"give hope for the future of a democratic socialist Poland."
0:44:48 > 0:44:51Pictures here of smiling people, clapping people.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54There's a picture here of my father taking notes.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56The objective reporter.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58My father loved Poland,
0:44:58 > 0:45:00he loved Warsaw, he loved the Poles,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03because of their spirit, because of their resilience.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08And, also, here he saw a nation that was a communist socialist state.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11Socialism and communism with a more humane face,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15more humane than that associated with Stalin and the Soviet Union.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18But history had horrible things in store.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23Things started to go wrong and, by 1958, this newsletter,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25headline on the front page:
0:45:25 > 0:45:28"Gordon Cruickshank Quits Daily Worker And The Communist Party.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33"Cruickshank disagrees with the party's fundamental political line,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37"and in particular with its attitude to the treatment of Jews
0:45:37 > 0:45:39"in the Soviet Union."
0:45:39 > 0:45:42For my father, any...
0:45:42 > 0:45:44form of anti-Semitic behaviour,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47any racism, was intolerable, impossible.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50He believed in a world of equality.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54He'd supported the idea of communism for decades
0:45:54 > 0:45:56but had to give it all up on principle.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59The fact that...
0:45:59 > 0:46:04he had to resign from the party must have been just absolutely appalling.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08Appalling for him, appalling for anybody whose life
0:46:08 > 0:46:11had been dedicated to an ideal and the ideal crumbles.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13What do you do? Gosh.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15The weird thing is that as a child I was not aware.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18He did protect me, protect the family
0:46:18 > 0:46:21from what must have been terrible, terrible turmoil,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24turbulence of mind.
0:46:25 > 0:46:26Gosh.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31In the end, of course, it all, sort of, in a way...
0:46:31 > 0:46:32came to nothing.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37The world he supported and hoped he would see triumph
0:46:37 > 0:46:39crumbled and was swept away
0:46:39 > 0:46:42or, worse than that, worse than that, of course,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44it was...
0:46:44 > 0:46:48revealed to be rotten under the Soviets, under Stalin.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05Coming back here after so many years has allowed me to fill in the gaps
0:47:05 > 0:47:07in my memories.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15There's still one that stands out, though.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17It's of the biggest bombsite of all.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20It was at the end of my street.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27What I didn't know was that it signified a hole in the heart
0:47:27 > 0:47:29of the rebuilt Warsaw.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35It was the site of the city's grandest pre-war building -
0:47:35 > 0:47:37the Royal Castle.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00For years, it was a step too far for the Communists to embrace
0:48:00 > 0:48:03the glories of Poland's royal past.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08But the people fought long and hard to get their castle back.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Finally, their dream came true, and work started in 1971.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21The story of the reconstruction of the castle
0:48:21 > 0:48:24is one of the most heroic stories in a city of heroes.
0:48:24 > 0:48:28It was paid for with money collected from Poles throughout the world,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31with some money deposited in a box on the site.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34You might think that after 25 years or so,
0:48:34 > 0:48:36there wouldn't be much left to rebuild.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41But Warsaw had planned for this day as far back as 1939.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55The castle had been seriously damaged by German bombs
0:48:55 > 0:48:58during the invasion in September of that year.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Curators and architects risked their lives
0:49:08 > 0:49:10salvaging the treasures of the castle.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Within three weeks, 80% of what survived had been carried off
0:49:14 > 0:49:18to safe storage in the vaults of the National Museum.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21But, even after Nazi occupation of Warsaw,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25the work continued with panelling, fireplaces,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28fragments of plasterwork and doors being carried off,
0:49:28 > 0:49:30but they had to be clever.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Sometimes, the doors would be used to carry off rubble,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35the rubble disguising the historic door,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37and then the door put in storage.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40But the post-war politics of Poland
0:49:40 > 0:49:43meant it was 30 years before these fragments were reused,
0:49:43 > 0:49:49in the last great stage in the reconstruction of historic Warsaw.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01The castle enjoyed its apogee during the 18th century
0:50:01 > 0:50:03under King Stanislaw August.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06It's my first visit here
0:50:06 > 0:50:11and the vainglorious portraits of the King and the lavish interiors
0:50:11 > 0:50:15show why a communist government might balk at the idea of rebuilding it.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20It's the very stuff that inspires revolutions.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Like all buildings, the Royal Castle has had its ups and downs.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29And, in a nation like Poland, with such a turbulent history,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33these ups and downs have been very extreme,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37so it makes sense, in the recreation of the castle's interior,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41to commemorate those moments in the history of the nation
0:50:41 > 0:50:45when Poland has been at its most prosperous and most independent.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Rebuilding the castle in all its 18th century finery
0:50:53 > 0:50:58was a huge challenge because it was a work of art in itself,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01with the most elegant neo-classical interiors,
0:51:01 > 0:51:03renowned around the world.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23This is one of the great 18th century royal rooms of Europe.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26And the world was shocked
0:51:26 > 0:51:30when it was virtually destroyed by German bombing in 1939,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33and now it lives again...
0:51:34 > 0:51:37..bright and sparkling...
0:51:38 > 0:51:43..as good as the day it was first completed in the 1780s.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45Wonderful, isn't it?
0:51:50 > 0:51:54The reconstruction was an extraordinary labour of love.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59Teams of conservationists and artists
0:51:59 > 0:52:02worked painstakingly to salvage what they could
0:52:02 > 0:52:05or else recreate details from old photographs.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19This is the Royal Chapel.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24It's a splendid neo-classical design of the 1770s.
0:52:24 > 0:52:29It contains eight columns, six of which are old.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32How on earth they survived buried amongst the ruins,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34I've absolutely no idea.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37Also, a lot of those rosettes are old as well.
0:52:37 > 0:52:43Here, old work and new work has been very skilfully integrated
0:52:43 > 0:52:45to recreate a most wonderful thing.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48It's as if the war never happened,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51the horrors of war never befell this place.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53I suppose that's just the point.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12Goodness me, look at this.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18What's really exciting about the castle
0:53:18 > 0:53:23is the way its brilliantly recreated interiors, sumptuous and gilded,
0:53:23 > 0:53:28so convincingly evoke those days of Poland's power and glory
0:53:28 > 0:53:33when, in the 18th century, Warsaw was one of the world's great cities.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38This is the throne room and it's almost overwhelming.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40Behind me is the throne
0:53:40 > 0:53:44and its display of Polish eagles made out of silver bullion.
0:53:44 > 0:53:49The originals were looted in 1939 by German soldiers,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52but, incredibly, one of these eagles
0:53:52 > 0:53:55was found in 1991 in the United States
0:53:55 > 0:53:59and that was brought back here and copied to reproduce the others,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02giving the whole thing a sense of utter authenticity.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06Of course, it shows that recreating the past
0:54:06 > 0:54:08is a never-ending journey.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22The reconstruction of old Warsaw raises many big questions,
0:54:22 > 0:54:23especially today.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30It works aesthetically, but was it ethically the right thing to do?
0:54:33 > 0:54:36To ponder this, I've come Lazienki Park.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39It's an enchanted place.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44I can see my younger self here,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47playing hide and seek with the statues.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It's all neo-classical pomp and opulence.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57No wonder the Germans occupied the Palace during the war.
0:54:57 > 0:55:01They did their damnedest to destroy it before they left.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07After the war, the Palace and gardens were rebuilt like the Old Town.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17The large scale of the reconstruction of the Old Town
0:55:17 > 0:55:20and its meticulously correct detailing
0:55:20 > 0:55:23was unprecedented in the 1950s.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Then, the prevailing architectural philosophy
0:55:27 > 0:55:31in approaching the reconstruction of war-damaged historic towns
0:55:31 > 0:55:36was to be truthful and to rebuild in a generally modern manner.
0:55:36 > 0:55:40That approach was rooted in 19th century theory
0:55:40 > 0:55:45represented very well by the art historian and theorist John Ruskin,
0:55:45 > 0:55:49who, in the mid-19th century wrote that it was impossible,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51as impossible as to raise the dead,
0:55:51 > 0:55:56to restore anything that had been great or beautiful in architecture.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00But, of course, recreating the dead
0:56:00 > 0:56:03was exactly what the people of Warsaw wanted to do.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07They wanted it to appear that the war and the Nazi barbarity
0:56:07 > 0:56:09had not happened.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14What the Poles wanted to do was to recreate it as a vital,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16total work of art.
0:56:29 > 0:56:35Fast-forward 70 years and World War II is a distant memory.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39Poland is now a member of the European Union
0:56:39 > 0:56:42and Warsaw has become a boom town,
0:56:42 > 0:56:47with high-rise buildings dominating its 21st century skyline.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50The latest is called the Spire.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54When completed, it'll be the city's second tallest building,
0:56:54 > 0:56:56after the Palace of Culture.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16Warsaw's resurrection is miraculous.
0:57:16 > 0:57:2170 years ago, nearly 90% of the city had been destroyed.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25A place of despair and desolation.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Now, as you can see, it lives again.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36In a world where history is once again under attack from extremism,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39there is much we can learn from Warsaw.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46A revived confidence in the future
0:57:46 > 0:57:49is expressed through the new architecture.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53Old buildings have been reconstructed with passion and verve.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56Is it possible to bring back the dead?
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Yes, if done with commitment,
0:57:58 > 0:58:01with determination and with love.