JELCZ AUTOMOBILE PLANT IN JELEZ

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005300750005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 13, 2007
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: December 1, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAI.INTEIIIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
ThL m-tsrtal eontafas Information sIIectinQ the Na-
tbtlal netense of the IIalted States trithta the mean-
Ini of the bpWaafs Lws, Tltls 18. II.B.C. secs. 703
and 7l/, tM tMnsmisston or re~elatlon of whloh 1n
anlr manner b an twauthotlaed yenon L Drohlblted
M Lw.
SRCRET-U.S. OFFICIALS O1dLLY
COUNTRY Poland REPORT NO.
25X1
SUBJECT Jelcz Automobile Plant in Jelez ~~ OISTR. 3 December 1g5~+
too. of rAt3~s 6
25X1
DATE OF INFO.
~~ Np, Rp
THE fOI/RCE !VALUATIONS IN TNIf REIOAI ASE ~EfINIT1VE.
THE AIIRA/fA/ Of CONTENT /f TENTATIVE.
(ROR KEI~ SEE REV[Rft)
The Jelczanskie Zaklady Samochodoxe (JZS-Jelcz Automobile Plant is an
industrial enterprise consisting of a military truck assembly plant and a.
civilian truck repair ahop~ and is controlled by the Automobile Production
and Repair Center of the L[inistry of Transport. It is loce.ted approximately
two kilometers from the railxay station of Jelcz. ~Jeltsch - P5Z~C71), a village
of abut 1,000 inhabitants on the site of the furmer German Krupps Works. There
war five.'s'tructurea canpleted and in operation by the German. Krupp Works at. the
end of eorld Nfar II. The machinery and equipment were removed by the Soviets,
and the buildings and some of the equipment not worth shipping to the USSR were
turned over to the Polish Government. In 1952 the Polish authorities repaired
three structures and adapted them Yor industrial use;' two are occupied by the JZS
factory and the third by a chemical factory. Repairs on the other two structures were
started in the middle of 1953?
2. The two sections of the JZS enterprise operate independently of each other but
under a point administration, and are located in separate buildings. These two
buildings are of concrete, and each is 12 meters high and covers an area 200 x 220
meters. One plant produces exclusively for the armed forces wh176 the other plant
serves civilian needs.
3.
The section working for the aimed forces is a plant for the assembly of the following
mobile installations: _
a. Mobile mechanical workshops. '
b. Mobile installations for the repair and charging of automobile batteries.
c. Fuel tankers.
4. The vehicles on which the above installations are mounted are-new Soviet ZIS three-ton,
six-cylinder, six-wheel trucks, which arrive complete Frith engine and driver's cab
directly from the Polish-Soviet frontier station of Przemysl., For the mobile
mechanical workshops and the fuel tankers, the chassis oP the trucks is extended in
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the factory in order to accommodate the body which is larger than the original
ZIS body. The consignments of new ZIS trucks arrive at the factory in flat railway
cars, unescorted.
The mobile mechanical workshops for the repair of tanks and other motor vehicles
in the armed forces are equipped with the following:
a. One 65-cm. lathe, with a built-in motor, of Polish or East
German manufacture.
b. One boring machine, with built-in motor, of Polish manufacture.
c. One set of oxyacetylene welding equipment.
d. One work table.
e. Blacksmith's equipment and tools.
f. Sets of various tools for automobile repair.
g. One coal-burning stove for heating, complete with chimney.
6. `the mobile mechanical workshops have no generators of their own. They are dependent
on power supFly from the outside, and are fitted to use 110220 v alternating
current.
7. The ZIS trucks arriving at the factory are painted the color of Polish military
vehicles. Serial numbers, license numbers, le~ctersnr signs which would reveal the
identity of the recipient units are not painted on in the factory. Most of the
mobile mechanical workshops are mounted on ZIS trucks,. but some are installed
in old trucks brought by military drivers and later collected by them. Attempts have
also been made to mount such mechanical shops on Polish Star three-ton, six-cylinder
trucks (boxers), two or three having been .assembled in the middle of 1953? However,
up to the end of 1953 the factory has continued to use the new ZIS trucks for this
purpose.
~3. Approximately 170 to 180 mobile mechanical workshops are turned out by the factory
each month. They are collected, in varying numbers, by military drivers,
predominantly from armored units and artillery, but also from the infantry. None
of the assembled mechanical workshops was collected by Soviet drivers or was
sent by train from the factory between November 1953 and the end of 1953?
9. The mobile plants fox automobile battery chaxging and repairs axe also mounted
on ZIS trucks. Production is limited to between two and five such trucks per
month. They are also supplied exclusively to Polish military units.
1(`o The fuel tankers axe assembled on new ZIS trucks with an extended chassis. The
i'uel tanks, with a capacity of x+,000 liters, as well as two hand-operated pumps and
fuel hoses, are supplied from East Germany. Approximately 120 to 130 fuel
tankers are turned out each month, exclusively for the Polish Armed Forces.
11. Experiments have recently been started in the factory in assembling mobile military
kitchens and larger mechanical workshops on trailers. Some prototypes have been
turned out, copying models of similar trailers brought to the factory from East
Cxermany. Production of any new models had not been started up to the end of 1953?
12. A regular staff of three officers, two lieutenants and one warrant officer, are
stationed in the factory and supervise the production. They are experts detailed
to the factory by the Technical Department of the Ministry of National Defense. In
addition, groups of officers, up to the rank of c~lonel~visit the factory from time
to time for control. '
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13. The section of the factory which produces exclusively for the military employs
approximately 4,000 workers iri three shifts, one-third of them inmates of the
adjoining forced labor camp. Workers are recruited from the?nearuy villages
from Brzeg, Olawa, and as far as Wroclaw. The .machinery and installation of the
entire factory, including the civilian section, axe predominantly of post-war
manufacture, imported from the USSR, Poland, East Germany and, to some extent, Great
Britain and other Western countries. Few new machines were added in 1953?
14. The civilian section of the factory is a repair shop handling Polish Star trucks
exclusively. The trucks are completely dismantled, individual parts repaired or
discarded and replaced by new ones, engines overhauled etc., and the trucks reassembled
and returned to the clients. The work is organized on the conveyor belt system.
Approximately 200 Star trucks to be repaired arrive by rail at the factory every
month. The number of workers employed is believed to be between 6000 and 8,000
operating in three shifts. About One-third of them are inmates of the adjoining forced
labor camp.
15.
:1E~.
The work in both the military and civilian sections of the plant is conducted in an
inefficient manner. This is partially due to the large number of prisoners employed.
As internal regulations of ?the camp, the detailing of work, the employment inside the
labor camp, disciplinary measures, etc., do not take into consideration the vocational
requirements of the factory, the prisoners working at the factory are often interchanged
or must stay away from their more or less permanent working place. Others substituted
for them are unacquainted with the spegific work, pause damage, and hold up the work
process. Another reason for the inefficient operation of the factory is the recurrent
shortage of raw materials, especially metals and electric wires. Work interruptions
for this reason recur every few weeks in .some parts of the plant, and the workers there
are idle until the missing materials arrive.
The water supply for the factory comes from '16 wellsi operating in groups of four,
with automatic pumps. Due to its large iron content (3.2 mg. per liter), the water
is purified in a specially constructed plant located in the vicinity of the water
wells. Additional water conduits have been laid in such manner that in an
emergency the water can reach the fire hydrants in the factory area without passing
through the purification plant. Albin Bushel is the head of the water power supply
department (Dual Glowny Energetyki) of the truck assembly plant: Though he is a
Party member, he is a careerist and not a convinced Communist. An electrician
'rJ txacle~ he was a pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. He lives
wj.th a Soviet major in Brzeg~ Krotka 7. Bushel is between 35 and 40 years of age, of
medium height, slim, and has black hair.
l~/~ There are railway sidings to the factory area from the nearby railway station of
Jelcz village. Both the JZS factory and the chemical factory receive their power
through a transformer station which serves these two factories exclusively. Its
capacity of 40,000 KW is believed to be only partly utilized. Two workers operate
the transformer station.
'1p3~ Source heard that a large automobile factory was planned, to be accommodated in the
two structures occupied bytes JZS, the twp structures now under repairs and two
structures to be built on the two additional foundations that were laid by the Germans.
A site located west of the factory, now used for military exercises of the guards,
would be adapted as a testing ground for the automobiles to be produced. Plans have
been drawn up for the construction of several workeret housing projects in the
vicinity, to provide housing for 20000 workers. Four apartment houses were built
northwest of the factory area in 1953?
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19. Southeast of the JZ5 factory area is a forced labor camp, the, inmates of which
are employed at the JZS factory. Both the camp area, which is~upproximately
500 x 500 meters and the factory area axe surrounded by a brick wall five
meters high and 55 cm. thick, on top of which are five lines of barbed wire
approximately g0 cm. high. There i~ a similar type of fence dividing the two
areas. There is a second fence of barbed wire inside the area approximately
two meters from the brick wall. Along thQ entire length of the brick wall there
are observation towers approximately 50 meters apart, each manned by a KBW (Internal
Security Corps) soldier armed with a rifle. Each tower is equipped with a
searchlight, and powerful electric lights illuminate the area during the night,
The camp itself is guarded by personnel of the prisons department of the UB
(Securityy Police) numbering approximately 100. The camp commandant is a UB
captain; there are 15 to 20 officers on the UB staff of the camp. ,There were
approximately 4,500 prisoners in this camp in 1952 and 1953
20. With the exception of those working in the camp kitchen, on sanitary duties, etc.,
prisoners are employed in the JZS factory. They work in three shifts, the first
utarting at ? a.m. They are escorted to and from their work by the UB guards,
who also patrol the factory halls at all times. The wages of the prisoners range
from l,,0 or 50 zlotys per month to 300 or 350 zlotys per month according to their
~ab:~ and vocational training. A number of prisoners are also employed in
administrative and responsible Sobs. One prisoner filled the post of asuistant
technical manager of the military truck assembly sectioi. for a certain period.
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JZS Factory and Adjacent Forced Labor Camp at Jelcz
Legend
1. Electric transformer station
2. Foundations of factory structure
3. Foundations of factory structure
k. Dwellings of managerial staff of the chemical factory
5. Railway tracks
6. Fenced.-in area
7. Assembly plant for military mobile installations
8. Chemical factory
9. Civ3.lian truck repair plant
L0. Gate between factory area, and forced labor camp
11. Camp courtyard
12. Central steam heating installatigns of the camp
13. Camp laundry
1~+. Mess and assembly hall
15. Camp administration building
16. Accommodation of prisongrs
17. Entrance gate to the camp
18. Damaged ie,ctory structure
19. Damaged factory structure
20. Water purification plant
21. Water wells
22. Central steam heating inetal~.ations
23. Sewerage, drainage installations
24. Dwellings of officers stationed at the camp
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