Jak Józef Sigalin most odbudowywał. Z historii legend warszawskich

Abstract

The rebuilding of Poniatowski Bridge in the years 1945–46 was a symbolically meaningful act for both the national propaganda of the times and the postwar Warsaw. The city was in ruins and so its potential as the country’s future capital was questioned by many. The reconstruction process became legendary owing to its main figure Józef Sigalin – one of the chief managers of the Bureau for Rebuilding the Capital (Polish: BOS) and later, during Stalin years, its main architect. His story is related in the collection Nad Wisłą wstaje warszawski dzień... (ed. 1963). Narrated within the framework of initiation myth, the story reveals its characteristic elements: the unfolding of the enterprise, the idealistic portrait of BOS and the enthusiastic ideal of People’s Poland. All these elements formulate the carefully constructed founding myth, whose demystification is the purpose of this article.