CZR REGIONAL WHOLESALE SUPPLY AGENCY #1 IN WROCLAW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00046R000500150006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 5, 2013
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: June 24, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espiona4.
ge Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
DATE ACQUIRED
Poland
MR Regional Wholesale Supply
Agency 411 in Wroclaw
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF
REQUIREMENT
REFERENCES
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24 June 1955
PAGES 10
NO. RD
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SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
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SOURCE
STATE I I ARMY
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NAVY
#3c
AIR
FBI
AEC
NFORMATION REPi
(Nate:- Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by "#".)
RT INFORMATION REPORT
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COUNTRY Poland
oNs
SUBMK1 CZR Regional Wholesale Supply Agency
#1 in Wroclaw
DATE OF INFORMA
PLACE ACQUIRED
SOURCE
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
REPORT NO.
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DATE DISTR. 27 may 1955
NO. OF PAGES 9
REFERENCES:
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2. The CZR Regional Wholesale Supply Agency #1 (Reitnowa HUttownia Centrali
Zaopatrzenia Rolnictwa CZR) was the largest of the 16 regional whole?
sale supply agencies controlled by the Central Agricultural Equipment
Supply Agency (CZR) as far as the turnover of spare parts and materials
for repairing agricultural machines was concerned.' It supplied WrOclaw
Voivodship which had the largest number of state agricultural machine
centers and collective farms in PolancL2
?
It waz located in Nroclaw (Brezlau) at 26 PowstancoW Slaskith Street and
occupied the buildings and storage facilities of a former branch of Der-
ing, a prewar German agriculi;ural machine factory. The whole compound
consisted of a largeofour story, brick building about 20 x 60 m. in size,
a one-story wooden shed, and a large yard. (For detailed description
see memory sketch and legend on pages 6 7). The compound was enclosed
by a brick wall and was guarded by six or e_ght industrial guards. There ,
was also a small fire brigade organized from among the workers. The store
were located on the entire first floor of the main'building, an area amount-
ing to approximately 1,000 sq. meters, The space was regarded as Inade-
quate. The equipment and storage facilities were old The second and ,
third floor of the western part of the building were used for offices; the
fourth floor was not fully occupied. The building had central heating
which facilitated the work in the warehouse. A great disadvantage of the
agency was that it did not have a railroad siding. All supplies had to
be unloaded at the Wreclaw railroad Station and transported to the ware-
house by trucks. The agency had three trucks for this purpose.
1
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3. The Wroclaw Supply Agency supplied spare parts for tractors and agri-
cultural machines, -10mr3cshop equipment, and tools and technical materials
necessary for the repair of agricultural machines to the following organ-
izations:
a. State Farms (PGR)..
b. State Machine Centers (POM).
c. Village Agricultural Machine Centers (GOM).
d. Establishments and Workshops of Technical Services for Agriculture
(TOR).
e. Other state agencies which administered agricultural farms (spare
parts only).
4. Private farmers and agricultural production cooperatives (collective
farms) were not allowed to buy any spare parts or material for repairs
from the wholesale agencies, as a rule. Sometimes, however, the Min
istry of Agriculture issued orders to the wholesale supply agency giv
ing it permission to sell spare parts to private farmers through the
intermediary of the Central Agency of Agricultural Peasant Self-help
Cooperatives (CRSSCh). These sales were made from surplus stock after
all the demands of the POMs and PGRs were satisfied. The lists of sur-
plus spare parts and materials were determined by the wholesale agency.
5. Lutostanski (fnu) was the manager in charge of the Wroclaw Wholesale
Supply Agency in the fall of 1954. The office consisted of five sections:
Planning, Personnel, Purchases and Sales (which also controlled a freight
expediting subsection), 1,113 Financerand Administration. The last one
was responable for the administration of the buildings, the supplies
necessary for the operation of the agency, transportation, and security.
A chief storekeeper was in charge of the warehouse. All toldothe agency
employed about 35 administrative employees in the office and about 30
workers in the warehouse.
In11953, the turnover of the Wroclaw Regional Wholesale Supply Agency
wati over 4o million zlotys. It did not keep a large stock of spare parts
in the warehouse because of limited storage facilities; for this reason,
it had to replenish its stock as often as two to three times in a three
month period. New stock was received from the Spare Parts Supply Agency
in Szczypiorno (N 51-44, E 18-02). On the day the ordered supplies were
to be loaded onto freight cars in Szczypiorno, the Wroclaw Wholesale
Agency sent an employee there from its Purchase and Sales section accom-
panied by a warehouse worlter as an escort. This employee received the
supplies on the loading ramps and signed the necersary documents. The
freight cars were then sent to Wroclaw. When the freight cars arrived
in Wroclawfthe supplies were unloaded and transported to the wholesale
agency on the agency,s own trucks and stored. From time to time, the
wholesale agency sent its own trucks directly to Szczypiorno to pick up
its order. Sometimes, the supplies were brought by the truck of a cus-
tomer, i.e., a state machine center or state farm.
7.
In accordance with the CZR distribution plan, certain supplies which were
usually shipped in bulk, such as some spare parts for tractors and agricul-
tural machines, screws, iron rods and sheets of various sizes and shapes,
calcium carbide, and sheaf binding twine (during the pre-harvest rush),
were shipped to the Regional Wholesale Supply Agency #1 directly from
the factories. Some quantities of steel, iron, asbestos packing, abra-
sives, tools, workshop equipment, oxygen, and acetylene were bought by
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the regional wholesale agency directly from the central sales offices
or regional wholesale agencies of various industries; Home-produced
and imported tires for tractors and trucks were usually received by the
regional wholesale agency directly from the Central Sales Agency for
Motor Products (Mototbyt) or bought from ti,iwwWroduCtSsales agency's
regional wholesale offices.
The Regional Wholesale Supply Agency #1 operated quite efficiently mostly
because of the energy and competence of its manager who often disregarded
of.Cicial orders and directives in getting his work done. In 1054, the 50:0
Ministry Of Agriculture planned to open a subsidiary branch of the whole- ,
sale agency in the Legnica (N 51-12, E 16-12) area.
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General Information
9. The following official publications and instructions issued by the Cen-
tral Agricultural Equipment Supply Agency (CZR) were used by every reg-
ional wholesale agencyin conducting its business.
a. CZR Information Book (Informator CZR) which was published twice up
to 1954 and based on orders and directives issued by the Ministry
of Agriculture and contained the following:
(1) General list of goods supplied by the CZR.
(2) Instructions for submitting orders for supplies.
(3) Instructions concerning receiving goods and settling accounts.
b. CZR Guide Book for Supply Officers (Poradnik Zaopatrzeniowca CZR)
which contained a list of all spare parts for tractOrs and agricul-
tural machines, statistical norms for the wear and tear of spare
parts, and tables of exchangeable spare parts and bearings. This
guide book was also used to 'facilitate the planning of supplies.
c, CZR Price Catalogues (Cenniki CZR) which were issued from time to
time under the supervision of the State Economic Planning Commission
(PKPG) and gave the wholesale prices of all spare parts, equipment,
and materials handled by the CZR.
LO. The regional wholesale agencies and their customers conducted their
business according to the above mentioned instructions and guides in
approximately the following way. The customers (P0Ms and Pas) sub-
mitted their plans and orders to the regional wholesale agencies accord-
ing to a timetable fixed by the CZR. However, this did not result in
an automatic shipment of goods. The spare parts, materials'and equip-
ment always had to be received by an authorized agent of the Customer.
The authorized agent received an1Wpicetoksygnata4lait*8)?. eth,:thoporiKeisale?
agenct,15.;.pri011asnM*0,;41e.Ction office and used it to request the
goods from the_Wai;dh'Out5e where he had to sign a receipt for them. A
copy of the invOice with a covering letter was later sent to the bank
which settled the account. Cash sales were permitted up to 100 zlotys
only; checks were seldom used.
. Every regional wholesale agency kept inventory records and turnover
statistics according to general instructions issued by the CZR. The
application of the instructions varied with local conditions and stor-
age facilities. The goods were recorded on special index cards. A
separate card was used for each item according to the catalogue number
of the item. quantity, sales,and prices were recorded on the cards.
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The card indexes were kept at the purchase and sales section in special
looked wooden boxes. Cards for the parts for each type of agricultural
machine were kept in one box. In addition to the catalogue numbers each
spare part was assigned a number by the regional wholesale agency and
this number was also recorded on the index card. Technical materials
(screws, iron,and steel) did not have catalogue numbers, but were re-
corded by dimensions and assigned a wholesale'agency number only. Every
order from a customer was afirst checked in the card index; if the
goods were in store,the customer was informed when he could collect them.
On the day of the sale, the invoice was written, the business transaction
was recorded, and the goods were taken off the records.
12. The warehouses of the regional wholesale agencies varied with the pre-
mises on which they were located. Usually, the warehouses were divided
Into sections corresponding to the commercial sections of the central
office of the CZR. Thus, there Were usually three separate sections;
one for tractor spare parts (sometimes there were different subdivision
for each type of tractor), one for agricultural machine spare parts,
and one section for workshop equipment and repair materials. This divi-
sion was also maintained in keeping records and in making out invoices,
and no mixing of goods from the different sections was permitted.
13. The storekeeper received new stock, signed for it, and arranged the
stock on rows of double open-faced shelves which were numbered according
to the catalogue and agency numbers described in paragraph 11 above.
The stores were systematically organized and the quantity of goods noted
on a small board on each shelf. This arrangement precluded the possi-
bilitj of storing the same type of spare parts in more than one place.
and facilitated the checking of stock Which was very important because
an average regional wholesale agency kept approximate1y1UtOI5Atibtidahd difm,
ferent spare parts in stocklof which about eight thousand were almost
continuouslY in demand throughout the year... The warehouses issued spare
parts and Materials only when the customers agent presented an invoice.
As a rule, the orders were col1ected Apd deposited in some inclosed part
of the warehouse where the customers eduld cheek them out. Customers
were admitted inside'the storeroom-6 only in exceptional cases when
they did not know the catalogue number Of the. spare part they needed
but had the damaged spare part for Which they needed a replacement.
This often happened when a blacksmith from a state farm came to seek a
part.
.4. The quality of spare parts for tractors and agricultural machines sup-
plied by the CZR regional wholesale agencies Was very seldom questioned
by the customerspmainly because they were indifferent to this problem
in that they could do nothing about it. The quality of spare parts
imported or produced by the key industries was higher than that of those
produced by the factories and workshops controlled by the Central Admin-
istration of Technical Services for Agriculture (CZTOR) and higher than
that of those produced by the smaller industries and cooperatives. The
standards of the technical inspection teams of the CZR were high, but
they could only thoroughly check the dimensions of the spare parts;
the quality of both the raw material and heat processes used could only
be checked very superficially. For this reason, spare parts with faulty
dimensions were usually not shipped. However,'
a largeAuantity-pf:.spare:llarhfaulty:dimenslons produced for
Zetor tractors and KutnoWiaklibWing machines was shipped in spite of
the objections of the CZR technical inspectors because of an order of
the Ministry of Agriculture which ignored the inspectors, objections ,
and approved the shipment because no other spare parts were available.
This faulty production was later the object of along investigation by
the UB which suspected sabotage. As a rule,however, the main problem
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was not so much the quality but the periodic shortage of some types of
spare parts which was caused by late deliveries of both home produced
products and imports from Czechoslovakia. The delays in delivery were
attributed to poor production planning and inefficiency in the distri-
bution of supplies.
15. The quality of sheaf-binding twine which was produced in Poland by the
Stradom Factory in Czestochowa was low this was attributed to the poor
machinery in the factory. In spite of the objections made by the tech-
nical inspector of the CZR and by the state farms and state machine cen-
ters,othe Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of State Farms issued
orders that the production had to be accepted.
26. The inspections carried out by the CZR often uncovered shortages or sur.
pluses in the stocks at the regional wholesale agencies which were not
accounted for in the agencies' records. These were usually attributable
to extralegal deals or thefts committed by the employees. In the past,
the authorities had been rather lenient in these situations, although
since 1952, several managers and employees of the regional wholesale
agencies were discharged and put on trial for lack of supervision and
theft. Beglnning with the balance sheet drawn up for 1 January 1954,
however, all chief storekeepers were held responsible for all irregu-
larities which came out in the balance sheet,, and source heard that two
managers were arrested in 1954 for serious misdemeanors in supervising
their wholesale agencies, one in Krakow, and one in Grajewo.
27. In 1953 - 1954, new buildings were under construction for the regional
wholesale agencies in Gdansk, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, and Opole. According
to plans worked out by the CM, each wholesale agency was to have an
office and administrative building which also had to contain some apart-
ments for employees, two warehouses, one shed for goods to be stored in 50:0
bulk, and four garages. (See sketch of a typical new
warehouse, page 9 , which was planneo for tne wholesale agency in Gdansk).
The floor space of the warehouses of the CM regional Wholesale agencies
varied from 900 sq. meters to 3,000 sq. meters, but 1,500 sq. meters was
considered as minimum, in general the storage facilities
were adequate and the goods were well preserved in spite of themm
fact that most of the warehouses were not heated. There were special
instructions concerning the storage of bearings and tinjboth of which
had to be kept in heated store rooms. Another instruction concerned
tires) which had to be protected from the weather. 50:00
1.
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Legend to Memory Sketch of Lay out of
the CZR Regional WholesaleAgency #1 in Wroclaw
1. Main Building - About 20 x 60 meters. The western part was four-story
and the rest of the building one-story.
2. Storeroom for workshOp equipment and technical materials such as col-
ored metals, screws, asbestos, abrasivesiand tools.
3. Storeroom for spare parts for agriculture machines.
4. Stairs and inside entrance to the office,
5. Storeroom for most valuable equipment and materia]. such as leather
belts, tin, gaugesoetc.
6. Storeroom for spare parts for tractors.
7. Main entrance and stairs to the office.
8. Main drive-in gate guarded by armed industrial guards. Near the gate
there was a small guard house.
9. Inside yard.
10, WarehOpsio:Ot*_,Alzwpt Orellard,H
11, Brick walloplastered,about two meters high.
12. Wooden shed for storing iron rods, plough shares, carbide etc.
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Layout of the CZR Regional Wholesale Agency in Wroclaw
A Memory Sketch, Approximate Scale 1:400, lcm, 4m
?
KYX
tar.cow Siakjch Street-
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Legend to Memory Sketch of a Warehouse
Planned for the CgRIReiorLallaLe_tjplt,AgitaEE_Ln2115tuk
1. Main gate to the warehouse.
2. Enclosed part of the warehouse for assembling goods and waiting place
for customers.
3. Windows.
4. Reserve side gates.
5. Rows of wooden double open-faced shelves for storing spare parts for
tractors and agricultural machines. Each shelf was about 5.5 m. long,
3.5 m. high, 1 m. wide,divided in small partitions 1.25 x 0.75 x 0.50 m.
3 -o2-ck o6
6/55 (i8)
55m
6/7k L2 -2 55M
9/7,52 55m
12/741 .2 95M
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Warehoe Plan ed for'..ne CZR... R;lonal Who1e2a
Gdans, ApT)roxat-,e. Scale 2 00,
C,',01(!i7'IDE7
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