Planned Destruction of Warsaw

The planned destruction of Warsaw refers to the largely realised plans by Nazi Germany to raze the city. The plan was put into full motion after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The uprising had infuriated German leaders who now wanted to make an example of the city, which they had long before selected for a major reconstruction as part of their plans to Germanise Eastern Europe:

The city must completely disappear from the surface of the earth and serve only as a transport station for the Wehrmacht. No stone can remain standing. Every building must be razed to its foundation. —SS chief Heinrich Himmler, October 17, SS officers' conference Warsaw has to be pacified, that is, razed to the ground. —Adolf Hitler, 1944

Considerable resources were diverted to the destruction of the city, which was soon to fall back into Allied hands. Most of the buildings and an immense part of the cultural heritage were demolished or burned to the ground. After the war, extensive work was put into rebuilding the city according to pre-war plans and historical documents.