Here we have an issue of the dramatic damage that faced Poland at the end of the war. In issuing the stamp, the new government was agreeing to put it back together. That must have been reassuring and perhaps a little surprising. The building was the historic Holy Cross Church, and the new government was Poland’s first atheist, communist one. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This really is a well designed stamp issue. The cheap paper, simple shading and rare for the time imperforate issue only magnify the destruction shown in the before and after shots. The hope comes in that by showing the damage in contrast to the before shot, you are telling people that the land won’t just be cleared. It is true though that the Church lost it’s gardens to make way for a new Finance Ministry.
Todays stamp is issue A119, a 10 Zloty stamp issued by Poland in 1946. This was a 6 stamp issue in various denominations showing before and after war shots of important Polish landmarks. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. Too low a value, this stamp is interesting and the highest denomination of the set.
As early as the 1400s this site in southern Warsaw was the home of a Christian church. The building was built in the 1680s by Polish King John III Sobieski. The design was gilded ever more over time with the round turrets and statuary added later. The heart of the late composer Chopin was added to a pillar of the Church as a patriotic gesture for Poles during the Russian occupation of Warsaw.
The area around the church included the University of Warsaw and an upscale Jewish neighborhood. During a crowded Christmas Day Mass in 1881, a false warning of fire was shouted and in the stampede that followed resulted in the deaths of 29 church goers. The scheme was by two young pickpockets who intended to ply their trade during the mayhem they incited. The grieving crowd outside the church then took notice of the race of the pickpockets and decided to make the neighborhood pay for what had been done to them. Two days of riots targeting Jews resulted in two more deaths before the then Russian authorities were able to put down the riots. The riots are now known as the Warsaw pogrom of 1881.
In 1944, the Jewish neighborhood again played havoc on the Church. During the Warsaw uprising, Jewish freedom fighters took over the Church. The Nazi occupation decided against leveling the Church and instead sent in two Goliath tracked mines inside to clear it. The Goliath was a five foot long radio controlled rolling mine that could explode once inside. Naturally there would be easier ways to blow up the Church than this pretty far out contraption but the explosion was sized to kill those inside without permanently damaging the stone structure of the Church. Interesting the Goliath in retrospect was not considered an effective weapon. Though it resembled a miniature tank, it was vulnerable to small arms fire on it’s journey to it’s target and the wire behind it controlling it could just be cut.
In January 1945, the Church received more damage as Warsaw fell to the Soviet Army during their Vistula-Oder Offensive. Between 1945 and 1953 the exterior of the Church was rebuilt to a simplified style under the direction of architect B. Ziborowski. The even more heavily damaged interior took longer. The Main Alter reconstruction went on till 1972.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the post war Communist regime for putting the Church back together. It would have been much easier to clear the rubble and blame the Nazis. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.