Warsaw

At the end of the 13th century, a new town of Mazovian Dukes was established on a high embankment of the Vistula River. This settlement was Warsaw. Three centuries later, Warsaw became capital of Poland.

In modern times, two heroic yet tragic events marked the German occupation during the WWII. After the defeat of the 1943 Uprising in the Jewish Ghetto and, particularly, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising the city was given a death sentence. Hundreds of thousands of Varsovians were killed, expelled or deported to concentration camps. Some 84 percent of the urban fabric was destroyed.

Following the WWII, for 45 years Poland lived under communist rule. The Solidarity movement, although temporarily crushed in December 1981, survived the repression and contributed decisively to the fall of totalitarian system, regaining of sovereignty and restoration of democracy. In 1989, free and democratic elections marked the end of the communist regime and period of unprecedented dynamism and enormous changes in the life of the city has begun. On 1 May 2004 the capital of Poland became also one of the capitals of the EU.

Mayor

Ms Hanna Gronkiewicz Waltz Plac Bankowy 3/5 00-142 Warsaw Poland ajaworska@warszawa.um.gov.pl +48-22 595 30 50 +48-22 595 30 52 http://e-warsaw.pl/2/index.php