Eisenhower in Warsaw

The picture was taken on the Old Town Square of Warsaw. General Dwight Eisenhower visited Warsaw, the capital of Poland, after the end of the war. There he enjoyed tremendous public recognition because of his role as Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. The city was totally destroyed by the Nazis after the Warsaw Uprising (1944). Eisenhower was so moved by the destruction that he commented, “I have seen many towns destroyed, but nowhere have I been faced with such destruction.” Later the historic centre was reconstructed (it finished in 1962), but the establishment of the Warsaw Pact (under the Eisenhower Presidency) rifted the West and the Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Old Town was finally included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1980 despite UNESCO’s reluctance to have the reconstructed sites in that list.