Warsaw, Poland — History and Culture
Warsaw is a survivor - by the end of WWII, roughly 85% of the city lay in ruins and most of the population had fled, been killed, deported or sent to concentration camps. More than a third of Warsaw's pre-war population was Jewish, although there are hardly any traces of this heritage remaining, as the city's prosperous Jewish community was decimated by the end of the war.
Much of Warsaw's historic center was painstakingly recreated in the years after WWII, in a move by the communist authorities, which surprised the citizens of the city as much as it did the West.
The strikingly successful rebuilding of Warsaw's Old Town was finally rewarded in 1980, when the entire complex earned its place on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
