During the German occupation, Warsaw was completely destroyed. Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler ordered to annihilate the city completely as part of the Germans’ retaliation for the Warsaw Uprising (1944). The planned demolition of the Polish capital lasted from October 1944 to January 1945, when the 1st Polish Army entered the capital after the Red Army’s offensive on January 17th.

The destruction of the city was carried out by special destructive squads (Technische Nothilfe) commanded by the SS-Gruppenführer Willi Schmelcher. In addition to demolishing huge parts of the city with a population of 1 million 289 thousand inhabitants before World War II, they plundered or devastated works of art and archives and dismantled the technical infrastructure. It completed the damage that occurred at the beginning of the war and during the uprising.

The civilians who left Warsaw were helped by the inhabitants of nearby towns. The few who remained among the ruins became known as the “Warsaw Robinsons”. The unprecedented destructive action was also supposed to be a deterrent example for other occupied nations of Europe.

Despite administrative bans, its inhabitants began to return to Warsaw almost immediately after the demolition. A few days after the capital was taken over by the Soviets, on January 22, the Office for Reconstruction of the Capital City of Warsaw was established, which had not yet been approved by the new communist authorities. From February 14, it was formally operating under the name Reconstruction Office of the capital city.

The project of recovering the city from the overall war damage, reaching about 65% of its total buildings, was a completely innovative idea, contrary to the then conservation recommendations, assuming only the restoration of the most important monuments or the repair of not completely damaged buildings. Its implementation in Poland ruined by war seemed unrealistic, especially since the left-bank Warsaw was destroyed in 85%. However, the plan was implemented – mainly thanks to the exceptional persistence and commitment of Polish architects and the extraordinary effort of the entire Polish society.

In 1980, Warsaw’s Old Town was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as the first complete architectural reconstruction.