Unseen Soundwalks: Downtown Warsaw

On a warm summer’s day in 1845, a fascinated crowd gathered in front of the new Warsaw-Vienna station to greet the arrival of the railway.

Despite the station’s name, however, it wouldn’t be a number of years before you could actually take the train directly to Vienna.

Listen to the story of the grand opening of the station and how it sparked the development of the surrounding area of Warsaw.

With thanks to:

Andrzej Paszke, a retired officer from PKP Polish State Railways as well as a railway enthusiast and historian. Piotr Hummel, a historian and local guide, co-founder of WAWstep city guides.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

Michał Kubicki, for providing the English voice of Andrzej Paszke.

Elżbieta Krajewska, for voicing the article on the opening of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway from the Kurjer Warszawski dated 15.06.1845, No. 155

There were a number shops at this address, which was located on the corner of Marszałkowska and Chmielna streets.

We learn a little about Polish fashion in the inter-war period and choose a hat from the renowned Mieszkowski boutique.

After that we go the neighbouring Wedel chocolate salon and talk marketing tactics.

Further reading:

The Bitter-Sweet Story Of Wedel, Poland’s Famous Chocolatier https://culture.pl/en/article/history-wedel-poland-chocolatier

The Crumbly & Delicious History of Chocolate in Poland https://culture.pl/en/article/history-chocolate-poland

Polish Food 101 ‒ Iconic Sweets https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-food-101-iconic-sweets

The Hussies and Gentlemen of Prewar Poland https://culture.pl/en/article/the-hussies-and-gentlemen-of-prewar-poland

With thanks to:

Magdalena Stopa and Warsaw’s History Meeting House for the interview recording with Emil Mieszkowski, the grandson of the original shop owner and who lived at this address before and during World War II.

Aleksandra Jatczak, a fashion historian and lecturer at the Fashion Department of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.

Elżbieta Jasińska, the great-granddaughter of Emil Wedel, the founder of one of Poland’s most loved chocolate brands.

Adam Żuławski, editor and co-host of sister podcast Stories From The Eastern West, for providing the English-language voice of Emil Mieszkowski.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

In October 1939, a young Richard Pipes witnessed the Nazi victory parade through Warsaw from the window of his family’s fourth-floor apartment.

It was then that his family knew they had to escape Warsaw, and Poland.

At the beginning of the war a number of Americans were also left stranded in the city. American film-maker and photographer Julien Bryan stayed to document the atrocities of war, appealing to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help the Polish people in a specially recorded message.

With thanks to:

The Polish National Digital Archive, for providing the original recording of Julien Bryan’s appeal to the United States from Warsaw in September 1939 (Ref: 33-T-4470)

Magdalena Stopa and Warsaw’s History Meeting House for the interview recording with Richard Pipes, who lived in the building on Chmielna 43 before emigrating to the United States at the beginning of World War II.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

Poland’s first and arguably most eminent music label, Syrena Rekord, had its premises here from its early years up until 1939.

The company was established in 1904 by Juliusz Feigenbaum, an industrialist from Warsaw. It was the first record production company in Poland, and the fourth worldwide!

Taking on the name Syrena in 1908, the company went on to become the main driving force of the Polish music scene during the Polish Second Republic in the inter-war period.

Further reading:

Mieczysław Fogg Biography on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/mieczyslaw-fogg

Polish Tangos: The Unique Inter-War Soundtrack to Poland’s Independence https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-tangos-the-unique-inter-war-soundtrack-to-polands-independence

Henryk Wars Biography on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/henryk-wars

The Rise & Fall of Polish Song https://culture.pl/en/article/the-rise-and-fall-of-polish-song

Adam Aston Biography on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/adam-aston

Eugeniusz Bodo Biography on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/eugeniusz-bodo

With thanks to:

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

At the beginning of August 1942, an elderly well-dressed gentleman left home with around 200 orphans in tow. It was to be their last outing.

Sienna 16 was the last address of Janusz Korczak’s Dom Sierota orphans’ home before he and his children were killed at the Nazi German death camp of Treblinka in the first week of August 1942.

Janusz Korczak was a pediatrician, renowned author, pedagogue, social activist, and defender of children’s rights. In fact, it is his work with children and his role as the director of the Dom Sierot, the Orphans’ Home, for which he is best known.

Apart from introducing new educational methods at the orphange, he also nurtured creativity among the children – one such endeavour was a newspaper: The Little Review.

Further reading:

Biography of Janusz Korczak on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-korczak

12 Things Worth Knowing About Janusz Korczak https://culture.pl/en/article/12-things-worth-knowing-about-janusz-korczak

Mały Przegląd: A Little Review with a Big Impact https://culture.pl/en/article/maly-przeglad-a-little-review-with-a-big-impact

There Are No Children, There Are People: Janusz Korczak the Educator https://culture.pl/en/article/there-are-no-children-there-are-people-janusz-korczak-the-educator

Janusz Korczak: Legacy of a Writer & Teacher https://culture.pl/en/article/janusz-korczak-legacy-of-a-writer-teacher

With thanks to:

Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych from the Korczakianum Research Institute at the Museum of Warsaw, for providing an insight into Janusz Korczak’s life and work.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

One of the tallest office buildings on this pre-war street became the heart of Polish Radio for a decade.

The radio station provided broadcasts for almost the entire country, with a super-charged 120kW transmitter – the most powerful in Europe when constructed – broadcasting from Raszyn, just outside Warsaw.

The building on Zielna Street has another history though. It was at this address that the Polish Communist Workers’ Party was founded soon after the country regained independence in 1918, although it soon became outlawed…

Further reading:

After World War II, Polish Radio provided a certain amount of artistic freedom with the creation of the legendary Polish Radio Experimental Studio:

The Future Sound of Warsaw: An Introduction to PRES https://culture.pl/en/article/the-future-sound-of-warsaw-an-introduction-to-pres

The Musical Milestones of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio https://culture.pl/en/article/the-musical-milestones-of-the-polish-radio-experimental-studio

With thanks to:

The Polish National Digital Archive, for providing Polish Radio archival recordings relating to the outbreak of World War II on 1st September 1939 (Ref: 33-P-571)

Wojciech Oleksiak, the lead producer of sister podcast Stories From The Eastern West, for providing the voice of the radio announcer.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

Towards the end of World War II, a legendary singer decided to open a café in a ruined building in the centre of town.

Mieczysław Fogg is one of the most revered Polish singers with a career spanning a number of decades throughout the 20th century. But he did more than just entertain audiences across, the globe, however.

In 1945, Warsaw lay in ruins, as was testified by a group of Swedish radio journalists visiting the city later that year.

Meanwhile, Mieczysław Fogg opened Café Fogg, a family-run establishment, in a destroyed building facing Marszałkowska Street. Apart from coffee and cake – rare luxuries for those times – the café also provided a meeting place for people looking for loved ones after the atrocities of war.

Further reading:

Mieczysław Fogg Biography on Culture.pl https://culture.pl/en/artist/mieczyslaw-fogg

Polish Tangos: The Unique Inter-War Soundtrack to Poland’s Independence https://culture.pl/en/article/polish-tangos-the-unique-inter-war-soundtrack-to-polands-independence

With thanks to:

Michał Fogg, the great-grandson of Mieczysław Fogg, for recalling his family history and story of Café Fogg.

The Polish National Digital Archive, for providing the archival recording of the Swedish radio journalists from December 1945 (Ref: 33-P-173)

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

On 24 October 1956, Władysław Gomułka, the new leader of the Polish communist party, took to the Tribune of Honour to address the Polish nation.

The newly built Parade Square with the domineering Palace of Culture was the perfect backdrop for his speech which marked the beginning of a new era of Polish socialism following the cold years of Stalinism.

The Tribune of Honour is the only piece of architecture in this series of Unseen which is still remains, although the system under which it was created no longer exists in Poland.

Further listening about the Palace of Culture:

Stories From The Eastern West: PALACE https://culture.pl/en/podcast/SFTEW-08-PALACE

Stories From The Eastern West: PALACE II https://culture.pl/en/podcast/SFTEW-09-PALACE-II

With thanks to:

Czesław Bielecki, an architect, opposition activist in the 1980s and self-styled ‘political animal’, for telling us about his family history and giving his opinion on the urban layout of Parade Square.

The Polish National Digital Archive, for providing the original recording of Władysław Gomułka’s speech on Parade Square on 24 October 1956 (Ref: 33-T-252)

Piotr Hummel, a historian and local guide, co-founder of WAWstep city guides.

Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.

On 29 July 1944, Zdzisław Jeziorański, known as Jan Nowak, the so-called ‘Courier from Warsaw’, met with General Tadeusz Komorowski codename ‘Bór’.

Jeziorański has been sent to Warsaw by the Polish Government-in-Exile in London to report on the Tehran and Moscow conferences which had taken place the previous year. And the news wasn’t good.

Soviet forces are fast approaching Warsaw from the east, creating unrest for the Nazi German occupiers. The launch of the Warsaw Uprising was now a matter of when, not if…

Further reading on Culture.pl:

• Singing After the Uprising: Contemporary Warsaw Uprising Music: https://culture.pl/en/article/singing-after-the-uprising-contemporary-warsaw-uprising-music • Remembering The Artists Of The Warsaw Uprising: https://culture.pl/en/article/artists-of-the-warsaw-uprising • Warsaw Uprising articles on Culture.pl: https://culture.pl/en/search/warsaw%20uprising

With thanks to:

• Rafał Brodacki, an historian from the Warsaw Rising Museum https://www.1944.pl • Alicja Baczyńska, your audio guide, for help with acoustic mapping throughout the Unseen project.