PAST Building in Warsaw

On the night of 19–20 August 1944 insurgents captured this building with the help of a fire pump: they forced thousands of litres of a crude oil and petrol mixture inside and set it alight. The PAST building at Zielna 39 is one of Europe's first high-rises modelled on American skyscrapers, a former telephone exchange and the symbol of one of the greatest successes of the Warsaw Uprising. Since 2003 the anchor emblem of Fighting Poland, the sign of the wartime resistance, has stood on its roof.

A tower of telephones

The Swedish Cedergren telephone company built its first exchange building at Zielna 37 in 1904–1905. The taller building at number 39 followed in the early 20th century – sources differ: 1908–1910 or 1906–1908 – designed by Isak Gustaf Clason together with Bronisław Brochwicz-Rogoyski. It was 51.5 metres high with eight storeys, and the switchboard was on the fifth floor. For about a year it was the tallest building in Europe, and in Poland it was only overtaken in 1934 by the Katowice "Skyscraper" and Warsaw's Prudential building. The name comes from the Polish Telephone Joint Stock Company (PAST), which took over the property in 1922.

The assault on PAST

From October 1939 the building was held by the Germans. Calls between occupied Poland and Berlin passed through here, and from 1941 also links to the rear of the Eastern Front. In August 1944 it was defended by a heavily armed garrison of more than 150 men. The first attacks by the "Kiliński" battalion from 1 August failed. The decisive assault by about 250 soldiers under Henryk Leliwa-Roycewicz, with sappers and a women's demolition patrol, began at 2:30 am on 20 August. Around noon a white-and-red flag was raised over the captured building, and film footage of the fighting was shown the very next day in the insurgents' Palladium cinema. The building stayed in Polish hands until the Uprising capitulated.

After the war

For years the ruined building awaited its fate: demolition was considered, as was turning it into a town-hall clock tower. In 1954 it was decided to rebuild it; the work in the late 1950s and early 1960s changed its appearance – the façades were rendered, the battlements were not restored and the interior was divided into 14 lower storeys. PAST has been a listed monument since 1965, and in 2000 the building was handed over to veterans' organisations and the Polish Underground State Foundation.

Tripto tip

The best view is from Zielna Street at the corner of Świętokrzyska, where you can see both PAST buildings: the lower one at number 37 and the tower at number 39 with the anchor on its roof. By the entrance is a plaque commemorating the fallen soldiers of the "Kiliński" battalion. No regular opening hours for the interior are published, so allow 15 minutes to look at it from outside and check announcements from the Polish Underground State Foundation. In August 2024 the 80th anniversary of the capture was marked here in front of the plaque. The Saxon Garden is a few minutes' walk away.