National(ized) Stadium

Another wrinkle has appeared in the National Stadium saga. The heirs of the pre-war owners of a 10-ha plot in Warsaw's Praga Południe district - part of which now hosts the 10th Anniversary Stadium - are demanding restitution of the land and threatening to obstruct the construction of the planned National Stadium.

The plot was nationalized in 1945 by virtue of the so-called "Bierut's Decree" and now belongs to the State Treasury. According to Joanna Modzelewska, the heirs' proxy, its value could now amount to zł.1-4 billion.

The case has been in court for 16 years now but captured public attention in recent weeks when it came to light that the heirs had tried to prevent Warsaw's city authorities from issuing a ruling on conditions for development for the 10th-Anniversary Stadium area and appealed to the Self-Government Appeal Court when one was actually passed.

Officials responsible for the National Stadium project maintained that the claims will not influence the investments' schedule as the land belongs to the State Treasury. "Nothing can be done about it. [The claims] will not matter in the process of obtaining the building permit and constructing the buildings," Michał Borowski, chairman of the National Sports Center, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Minister of Sport and Tourism Mirosław Drzewiecki, however, told PAP that if the claims were recognized as valid by a court, compensation would have to be paid.

The decree of November 26, 1945, signed by then-President Bolesław Bierut, allowed all private land within Warsaw's boundaries to be taken over by the city. Later, when the territorial self-government was abolished in 1950, the State Treasury assumed ownership. Around 12,000 ha of land, with perhaps as many as 24,000 properties, was nationalized by virtue of the law. Only a small fraction of this land has so far been returned to its original owners or their heirs.