Health in the Military – Military in Good Health: Prestige and Propaganda in the Architecture of Modernist Military Holiday Houses

Abstract

As a result of wartime operations, many citizens of child-bearing and working age either fell or became disabled, and in the best of cases required treatment due to a worsening of hygienic conditions and malnutrition. According to the Polska Zbrojna magazine from 1933, the health of the Fatherland’s defenders required particular attention. For this reason, in the Second Republic of Poland, the officers’ corps had its own holiday system. Military architecture can largely bring to mind standardised urban layouts of barracks complexes filled with repetitive architecture. However, the architecture of holiday houses, sanatoriums and officers’ homes dedicated to recreation and entertainment (pensioners insisted on the hosting of dancing nights) and health treatment/convalescence is something different altogether. Although the first military holiday home in Cetniewo was built in the manorial style, the so-called White Manor (Biały Dworek), successive buildings were largely designed in the Modernist style, which perfectly fit the relaxed atmosphere and was healthy due to its immanent assumptions: it was equipped with impressive glazing, where the clash of masses caused the appearance of open rooftop terraces, etc. Officers, non-commissioned officers and their families had access to year-round holiday facilities such as the Officers’ Holiday Home in Augustów, seasonal facilities (Officers’ Holiday Complex in Jurata), as well as sanatoriums (Military Sanatorium in Otwock). After sailing and kayaking had become popular among officers, facilities dedicated to specific sports club began to appear, such as the Yacht Club in Zegrze. The design of such facilities was the domain of not only military engineers, but also avant-garde civilian designers, such as Edgar Norwerth, Marian Lalewicz, etc. Recreational homes were not only of recreational and integrative significance, but were also important in propaganda: the Officers’ Recreational Home in Cetniewo was to mark Polish presence on the freshly reclaimed Baltic coast through its modern, avant-garde architecture.