Aller Anfang ist schwer. Von den Linke-Hofmann-Werken zu PAFAWAG

Abstract

The conclusion of the World War II in 1945 saw the region of Lower Silesia transferred to Polish administration. Although economic and industrial reconstruction was an important task, the issue of how this process took place and the reasons for the successes and failures of reconstruction have rarely been discussed in historiography. To date there is no historical research on the beginnings of the PAFAWAG company. This paper addresses this research gap, partly by focusing on the turbulent history of the biggest rolling stock producer in Lower Silesia, Linke-Hofmann-Werke AG, which was the predecessor of PAFAWAG. The paper focuses on the evacuation of the company by the Wehrmacht at the beginning of 1945, the dismantling of machinery and devices by Soviet “trophy battalions”, the takeover of the factories by the Polish KERM protection groups, and the reactivation of their production.