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Information Text: Krakow – Communism 1945-1956 - Flat building and construction – the mythos of a better life

Photo: Beata Poręba

The main architectural goal was construction of “Kombinat” (industrial business groups or conglomerates). However, workers and their families were to be provided with suitable accommodation and living conditions. The new city sprawled over the former site of the villages of Bieńczyce, Czyżyny, Mogiła, Krzesławice, Pleszów, Grębałów, Lubocza, etc. Its inhabitants came from overcrowded rural communities from all over Poland, especially from the Kraków Voivodship (40%), Katowice Voivodship (12%), Wrocław Voivodship (10%), Rzeszów Voivodship (9%) and Kielce Voivodship (6%). In the beginning, they were accommodated in worker hostels. They constituted a rather specific group – they were young and eager to work, hoping for a better life, but at the same time they were uprooted from their local environments, which often caused anti-social behaviour. They could find work and accommodation there, and they easily yielded to the mythos of becoming builders of the New Poland. They were mainly qualified workers with a vocational training.

The intelligentsia represented a rather small group. The assimilation process of the rural newcomers was difficult, and their adaptation to the city environment was complicated. Outside appearances could not camouflage the feelings of  alienation, estrangement and displacement. On June 23, 1949, construction works on the first flats started. They were located on the Mogiła fields in the vicinity of Wanda’s Mound. There, the first housing estate called “Wanda” was established, and the first block of flats had the number 14. The main architect was the engineer, Tadeusz Ptaszycki. The building works were carried out in a primitive way. Necessary materials were transported on carts, and spades, trowels, saws, wheelbarrows and wooden hand barrows were the main working tools. The new flats were modern, functional and characterised by a high technical level. They were equipped with running water, electricity, gas and waste water systems; they also had bathrooms and central heating. In January the following year, there were already 5000 inhabitants in Nowa Huta. The major objective was to avoid constructing blocks along straight lines. The housing estates were to be intersected by green recreational areas, big squares and wide streets. Other basic needs of the future inhabitants were to be fulfilled, for example, in January 1952, the building of a hospital started. In July of that year, the first department store and the first restaurant “Giant” were opened. In November 1952, the first section of the tram system, the line number 5 connecting Nowa Huta with Kraków, was completed. In 1953, the first Nowa Huta lyceum was opened. The city slowly began vibrating with its own life. In the beginning, Nowa Huta was considered to be a separate settlement, but in 1951 it became part of Kraków.

In the meantime, the new government began a fight against the middle class. The decree on “public management of private locals and tenancy control law” allowing the government to accommodate lodgers in private flats and houses was introduced. Also, the “trade fight” was taking place – the private property  belonging to craftsmen and traders was liquidated or taken over by the authorities.

 

Socialism: a political and economic theory or system of social organization based on the proletariat’s dictatorship, collective or state ownership of the means of production, nationalization of private property and comprehensive rural reform.