DISINFO: Warsaw would not have been rebuilt without the decision of Stalin
SUMMARY
The decision about the reconstruction of Warsaw was made in 1944-1945 when no one believed that this city would be rebuilt at all. Without the individual decisions of Bolesław Bierut and Joseph Stalin, Warsaw would not have been rebuilt.
RESPONSE
This message is part of Russian historical revisionism, portraying the Stalinist USSR as the peacemaker and liberator of Poland.
By the beginning of 1945, as a result of the actions of Nazi troops, Warsaw lost up to 90% of its urban architecture. The rebuilding of the city took place throughout several post-war decades – the reconstruction of the Old Town was completed in the mid-1960s and the Royal Castle was finished only in 1984. Read more about the reconstruction of the Historic Centre of Warsaw here. The reconstruction of Warsaw, unprecedented in its scale, was a result of the massive effort of the entire Polish nation, not the Stalinist authorities.
The statement that Joseph Stalin should be appreciated for the decision to rebuild the destroyed Warsaw is quite cynical. In fact, Stalin used the reconstruction of Warsaw for political goals, trying to receive international recognition before the Yalta Conference. The Poles accused Stalin and the USSR of refusing to support the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 when the Red Army was situated in closest proximity to Warsaw city centre, “observing” the destruction of the city by the Nazis. According to Norman Davies, there is a consensus among the majority of Polish and Western historians that it was a political decision of Stalin not to support the Uprising in order to let German troops destroy the forces of the Home Army (which tried to re-establish the independent Polish state).
Read similar messages here: Stalin decided to establish the independent Polish state; It is thanks to Russia that Poland today exists as a country and The Red Army liberated Poland and preserved the country’s economic power.