The Syrkus couple and the global cause of modernism

Abstract

This article discusses the role of modernist architects in Poland during the first half of the twentieth century. The article argues that against the background of economic catching-up processes and the establishment of a new nation state and capital, modernist architects could enter into a close relationship with the modernising state. This relationship could partially survive World War II, albeit under different auspices. By employing the example of Poland’s foremost modernist architect Szymon Syrkus and his wife Helena, and their extensive correspondence with other Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne architects, the article discusses, moreover, the impact of the deep breaks coming with the rise of authoritarian regimes in the 1930s, the coming World War and the Holocaust, and finally the establishment of communist regimes on modernist architects.