crac

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cracÓws NOWA HUTA STALINs
polish DREAM
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• After WWII the newly formed Polish Communist
  government was directed to build a new state
  steel works.
• Originally it was going to be built in the
  industrialized region of Silesia
• Stalin, the self named father of all nations,
  relocated the project to the outskirts of Craców,
  a fertile agricultural region. Like Magnitogorsk
  in the Urals, it became one of only a handful of
  centrally planned socialist cities in the world.
• Work began in March of 1949 on the steel works
  and following that the new town for the steel
  workers.

The Perfect communist City
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Why cracÓw? Stalin and the
communist leaders of Poland were having trouble
encouraging many Polish to accept Marxs
ideology. Before WWI Stalin had lived in Craców
and loved the citys Russian like feel . As
Stalin put it, getting the poles to understand
and accept Communism is like trying to saddle a
cow. Even the Polish communist party could not
use the word communist in their name.
Cracóws intellectual and artistic population in
particular were resisting communism. Stalin
reasoned it was because they lacked the proper
proletarian mindset and decided to deal with this
by creating a proletarian class for the city.
Nowa Huta is born
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The new steel works were dedicated to Lenin on
the 13th anniversary of his death and his vision
for the new town.
Today it bears the name of the architect that
designed it, Tadeusz Sendzimir
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Typical of Socialist-Realist architecture the
central office of the steel works look much like
a Renaissance Palace. The building surrounds a
open courtyard which even had a fountain.
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Building the central blast furnace of
the steel works.
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• The Characteristics of Socialist Realist Art
• After the October Revolution in Russia,
  Avant-garde artists declared their desire to
  reflect the new social reality. However,
  traditional artists rejected the avant-garde
  movement as obscure and unacceptable for the
  masses.
• A return to realism was the subsequent reaction.
  By 1934 socialist realism became the official and
  only form of artistic expression.
• It was in force in all of the so-called Peoples
  democracies including Poland by 1949.
• Architecture was the first and most important
  field used to create the new social order whose
  works needed to 1) be based on a socialist theme
  2) inform a citizens consciousness of the new
  society and 3) not merely engineer edifices but
  engineer human souls
• Work, community and social patriotism are
  universal themes.
• In Poland Renaissance/ Baroque style architecture
  was the national form but other classicist forms
  were used as well. By 1956 much of this style
  disappeared.

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Art needs to arouse in people the power and
persistence of the peoples state, its mass
collective character, its democracy and humanism,
the idea of true freedom and the versatile
possibilities it gives to people.
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The layout for the new town was in a Fan shaped
design
The steel works are here
It was meant to be an entire circle but Stalins
death cut funding and the project was only half
completed.
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The layout and composition was meant to create a
sense of order, harmonious design and a vision of
community. It is based on a half of a classical
Renaissance city. With city streets running
radially out of one center and are linked
together forming a web. The design is typical
in Socialist Realist design that often followed
Baroque town planning which tended to be more
axial.
This aerial view clearly shows the fan design
four blocks radiating from a central avenue.
The central avenue ends at a square.
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The architect who headed the Nowa Huta design
team was T. Ptaszycki. The plan of the new town
made reference to baroque design. The focal point
of the design was Plac Centralny (Central
Square). Five streets radiated out from this
central point with Avenue of Roses running down
the middle The southern side of Plac Centralny
was left open, with a view over the valley of the
river Vistula.
View of Plac Centralny by Tadeusz Ptaszycki
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The Central Square today which has been renamed
for Cold War hero..
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The city layout is based upon the Anglo-Saxon
concept of "neighborhood units" - dating back to
the 1920s when the regional plan for New York was
being developed . These units assemble 5000 -
6000 residents, further forming districts of 15
-20 thousand residents. Neighborhood units were
generally equipped with infrastructure
indispensable for the functioning of their
communities including catering, shops,
kindergartens and schools situated within a
certain district. Children didn't have to cross
busy roads and the adults found all they needed
for daily business close by. The peripheral
districts in the eastern and western parts, with
their loose composition, were influenced by
worker's estates from the early 20th century.
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The layout and composition was meant to create a
sense of order, harmonious design and a vision of
community. .
Each of the original four blocks (identified as
Centrum A-D) were designed to be self contained
including schools, shops, housing, medical
facilities etc. Each block also had underground
fall out shelters for the impending nuclear
disaster
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The units are closed quarters with the gates
leading within . The space between the blocks is
smaller but also filled with greenery. In some
quarters the corner buildings are higher than the
others creating a kind of tower that makes the
developments look like fortresses. Such kind of
building development was not only much more
economical but also had a utilitarian
significance it facilitated the supervision of
children, as well as mutual control of the
residents which was of great importance in the
Stalin era . In the cold war era he envisioned it
as a defense camp. The architecture itself
follows standards of the Renaissance, baroque and
classicism, which are visible in a great number
of historic forms and abundant detail.
The entrance archways are designed to close up
easily and are just large enough for tanks (and
hiding overnight during curfew.)
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Central Avenue Note the tower-like corners and
Renaissance architectural details.
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Green space and light fills inner court yards.
In this picture the color difference is the
result of building cleaning. The sandstone block
used in construction easily absorbs pollution and
darkens quickly.
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By all accounts life was pleasant in early Nowa
Huta
Clean streets, new schools, wonderful shops (all
identical in form and shape), and Milk Bars
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Cloth shop
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The whole nation is building Nowa Huta True
enough, people from all over Poland came to build
the new town.
First there were the junacy (military youth
groups) followed by Young people from Service
to Poland and volunteer brigades from the ZMP
(Communist youth group) Old and young women and
men who were looking for anew sense of purpose
volunteered as well
Pictured above Junacy , to the right womens
service group
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The work commenced on the 23rd of June, 1949 when
Wandas name day is celebrated on the Polish
calendar. This was chosen as an exorcism of
the local monastery in order to promote an
atheist society. In order to juxtapose the pagan
heroine Wanda with the Saints everything was
named after her Wanda Stadium, Wanda Department
store, Wandy housing project etc.
The wild west like atmosphere the workers
settlement area gave rise to the name Mexico.
Work was difficult and progress was slowed by
mud and difficulties with the young workers who
often behaved more like hooligans than the
dedicated workers of a new community. Despite
these difficulties there were many volunteer
workers that were truly dedicated to the idea of
true communal living and the principles of the
project.
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Wandy Park
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The Communist Super Worker One unique
phenomenon in 20th century communist culture is
the concept of the celebrity super worker.
These proletarian supermen and women achieved
major record breaking feats of work which
included marathon shifts, record quotas and a
fierce competitive spirit. Many of these workers
actually went on tours to inspire others to
unimaginable production levels. In Poland the
hero of this phenomenon was a Nowa Huta
bricklayer named Piotr
Ozanski Man of Marble
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Piotr and his work brigade at Nowa Huta laid a
record breaking 34,728 bricks in one shift! To
celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Revolution
they decided to better that and lay 50,000 in one
shift! Ozanski himself was laying bricks so fast
that many of them were still hot from the firing
and despite the burning of his hands he never
stopped.
His efforts pushed Craców over the top in the
intercity building competition being held that
year. His feat is memorialized in the 1970
Polish film by Wajdas called Man of Marble
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Nowa Huta Rebels

• Nowa Huta is connected with anti-Soviet
  activities in three ways
• Its hatred of Soviet cultural icons like the
  Lenin statue
• Its insistence on religion and a strong
  connection with John Paul II
• As a hotbed of Solidarity activity.

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When the plans for Nowa Huta were shown to
President Bierut he commented, But where is the
church. Perhaps a communist, but first a Pole he
could not envision any town in Poland with no
church. Soon after the completion of the town a
cross was erected awaiting the building of a
church. Communist officials refused to allow the
church and in fact built a communist monument
near the area instead. The battle for a church
began!
The Nowa Huta Cross
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The cause was taken on by the Archbishopof Cracow
Karol Wojtyla who persisted after much social
protest, some of which resulted in violence, in
trying to get a church built. Communist
officials allowed it only is it was built outside
of the town proper and using NO POLISH MATERIALS
at all. Everything would have to be imported and
paid with donations. Thinking this would delay
or even permanently thwart the plan Communist
official s were stunned by the national and
international support for the project. Money,
jewelry and supplies came in from all over
resulting in Church of Our Lady, Queen of
Poland, The Lords Arc
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Church of the Lords Arc
The Crown at the top is made from left over
donated jewelry. The Cross was donated by the
Viennese, the corner stone came from St. Peters.
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Nowa Huta and the Lenin Statue In
1970 it was announced a competition would be held
for a statue to be placed on The Avenue of Roses.
This was strange since the Polish government
had built no other monuments to Communism in the
country but Nowa Huta was a national showplace.
Communist celebrities from all over toured the
town. On his visit to Poland Fidel Castro
wanted to see none of the famous historic sites
like Wawel Castle but only wanted to see Nowa
Huta.
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The statue was paid by the workers who had no
choice but to give up one of their 3 month
premiums to fund it. Marian Konieczny won the
competition and the huge 7 ton statue was
constructed.
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The population hated the statue right away and
discussion of how to deal with it soon began.
Here are some of the ideas Blow the head off
with a water cannon Cover it with valerian which
attracts cats and the odor would force
authorities to take it away. Decorate him for
the different holidays What was tried Two
bombs were placed between his legs and the
subsequent explosion blew out all the windows
nearby but nothing happened to him. People
covered it with cow dung and graffiti In the
end He was too heavy to be torn down in 1989
and he was eventually sold to Swedish millionaire
Bengt Erlandsson, shipped to Sweden where he now
sports an earring and holds a cigarette.
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• Solidarity Activities
• Nowa Huta was the largest bastion of solidarity
  in Poland. Lech Walesa noted its importance
  often.
• Strikes and work stoppages came often as a result
  of the terrible conditions
• 1981 Martial Law tightened control but when it
  was lifted in 83 arrests and harrassment was
  still common
• In 1988 Cracow students joined the Nowa Huta
  workers in huge protests
• Together with Gdansk, Warsaw and Wrodaw, Nowa
  Huta completed the Solidarity block.

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Solidarity
There was only one gate moving from the Steel
works to the town and every eight hours 15,000
18,000 workers went through it on shift changes.
The big broad avenues of Nowa Huta made it
perfect for demonstrations and protests. Many of
the biggest Solidarity gathering happened in just
those circumstances.
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A monument to the Soviet Liberation of the area
this tank also reminded them of the ever present
Soviet presence.
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Nowa Huta Today A bright future