This forgotten power plant completely frozen in time is all that’s left of one of Poland’s largest factories.
After 150 years of operation, it was abandoned only a short time ago.
Today, the well-guarded premises can look back upon a diverse past.
This was even used as a death camp of the Nazis once.
During our latest road trip to Poland, we were searching for the country’s undisclosed landmarks.
In chapter five of the series, we explore the decommissioned industry
but also the Jewish heritage that has recovered after the cruel actions by Nazi Germany.
After filming a former synagogue, we head to this true hidden gem –
a historical powerhouse spared any vandalism.
Learn more about these places’ moving stories in today’s episode.
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Keep your eyes open and as an urban explorer, you will find interesting stories everywhere.
Before we get to the main location of this video, we want to share an undisclosed landmark we found on the way.
This is more than just a derelict swimming hall.
But you could already tell when you saw the outside of this palatial building.
However, today it is only a shadow of its former self.
Here, as well as at many other abandoned places in Poland,
it is the fault of Nazi Germany why it has all gone to rack.
More than 100 years ago, the site looked like this.
And indeed, this was no swimming bath back then but a synagogue.
At the beginning of the 20th century, this house of God was constructed.
It was located in the center of a big city.
In our previous episodes you have learned that major parts of the country belonged to Prussia back then.
It was all part of the German Empire.
When the synagogue was built it needed to be the biggest Jewish structure in the town
and tower above all the adjacent houses.
Because the Jewish community wanted to show their cultural affiliation to Germany.
They were Germans themselves; loyal subjects to the Kaiser.
The greatness of their Reich should be reflected in their stately building.
If you venture into the premises today, you will not find any of this pageantry anymore.
Instead, there is decay everywhere.
In 1918, at the end of World War One, the German Empire fell apart.
This all became Polish again.
Since they identified as Germans, a large part of the Jewish community left the country and abandoned this synagogue.
But their obedience was not appreciated because only a short time later, there was the Nazi’s seizure of power.
For the Jews, this meant to escape or to be deported.
Only a few of them survived the terrible violence.
With the attack against the young Polish nation in 1939, Germany started World War Two.
This city was occupied now and the synagogue was desecrated by the Nazis.
They ripped off the Star of David from the roof,
destroyed the interior spaces completely and reconstructed the external façade.
This building only survived the Nazis’ rage because they decided to use it as a leisure bath for front-line soldiers from now on.
Scarred by war, it was decided to use the site as public baths after substantial renovations.
Where 1,200 believers could pray in the past, there was now the whole town invited to take a swim.
But only a few visitors knew the real story, that this used to be a former synagogue.
In total, this site was a swimming hall for more than 60 years.
But only ten years ago, in 2010, it all ended.
Today, it seems like the roof could collapse at any moment.
Vandals are breaking in regularly and the historical building sits vacant and deserted.
Since the 2000s, the synagogue is owned by the small local Jewish community again.
They always tried to turn it back into a house of prayer but they did not get any support.
As it seems, there is no money for the city’s Jewish heritage.
In the last centuries, there were thousands of Jews living here.
But today, the community consists only of 50 members.
So, they had one last chance:
At the end of 2019, they sold the property to an investor.
He is planning to transform the place into a luxury hotel
but promised to include a small museum about the Jewish history and a room for prayer.
But yet, it is not clear how much of today’s structure will be preserved.
Would you ever have thought of such a story when we showed you the first video clips of this place?
We did not.
That is why you should always keep your eyes open and be curious about places.
If you are new to urbex start with your hometown.
Then expand.
Look around, dig into the history of places, connect and learn.
And after many years of doing so, we ended up at the grand abandoned power plant
we are going to show you now.
At this point, our Poland road trip was almost over and we were in a completely different part of the country.
Here we wanted to see the remains of an undisclosed landmark that was known in Poland and the whole world.
But today, only a few buildings of a once massive industrial site are left.
Most of the halls are deserted for years.
A century ago, the factory was at its height.
4,000 people were working here at that time.
Textiles of all kinds were produced here and shipped internationally.
The plant was founded in the middle of the 19th Century by a German businessman.
The young enterprise took off immediately.
It grew that fast because competitors and bankrupt companies were bought up.
Only World War One could stop the dynamic development.
It took another 100 years until the major factory was forced to close down.
Today, some parts of the vast premises are sold and reused.
New companies settled here.
A lot of the historical architecture was preserved.
But other buildings on the site are still abandoned.
And we were particularly interested in this one.
This is the former electrical plant of the factory.
The company needed so much energy that it was necessary to build its own powerhouse.
But it is decommissioned since the closure of the factory.
The building on the left with its new roof is one of the oldest structures on the whole premises.
It is the turbine hall and was constructed way over 100 years ago.
The tall building to its right is the boiler house.
During our recent years of exploring, we have ventured into many abandoned power plants.
And we were surprised that the basic structure is always the same.
Let’s get inside now to see what is left behind.
A forgotten turbine hall spared from vandalism.
This is actually like Christmas morning for urbexers!
As it seems, some of them have already excitedly ripped open the plastic-wrapped machines.
This compound was only abandoned in recent years and it is usually guarded really well.
This explains the pristine condition of all the equipment.
The method of operation in all the forgotten power plants we have been exploring was usually very similar.
And here it was the same.
At first, there is the conveyor where the combustible fuels like coal get transported to the top of the boiler house.
No, we did not dare to climb this conveyor.
We have very bad memories of our Hungary road trip.
If you do not know what we are talking about make sure not to miss the exploration we put in the info card for you.
You find it in the top right corner of your YouTube player.
The combustible fuels end up in the boilers.
These are the massive structures you can see now.
Here they get burned.
Because of the combustion, the turbines are driven.
This happened in the other building part.
Such a turbine then converts the energy.
These are all important steps in the production of electricity.
But we were greatly simplifying the process.
If you want to know the exact way these places work just read the comments.
Probably at least one of you is an expert in this field and can share his knowledge with us.
Thanks a lot for that by the way.
However, this plant is a special case.
It was extended and transformed more than once.
During its recent years of operation, the building complex was used as a block-type thermal power station.
So, not only electricity was produced here but also heat.
Take a look at the turbine hall and it is obvious that it was decommissioned just recently -
five years ago, as a matter of fact.
But if we then go back to the taller building, the boiler house, it seems like a completely different stage of decay.
We wonder if they were abandoned at the same time.
What is your thought on this?
Let’s just get back to the history of the factory for a moment.
During the time of Nazi occupation, the vast premises became a sub-camp of Auschwitz concentration camp.
At first Jews and prisoners of war were detained,
later female foreigners were brought here for compulsory labor.
Too many of them were killed or died because of difficult working conditions.
Luckily, the Soviet troops were ending this.
But after the liberation, they stole many machines and factory equipment.
It took a while to rebuild the destroyed halls but after some years it was flourishing again like during its prime.
However, after the political changes at the end of the Cold War, the factory was privatized.
Of 1,500 employees in 1990, not even 150 in total were still working here 20 years later.
It was a complete collapse that ended with bankruptcy in 2010.
The brand was sold to another company but the factory was abandoned.
The decommissioning process took several years.
In 2014, it was all over.
Today, it seems like the next shift could start at any moment.
And maybe, this could be even true.
More and more buildings of the vast factory find a new purpose.
Also, the power station was sold.
The new owner wants the plant to start operating again.
His idea is to use agricultural waste as combustible, such as wheat straw purchased from local farmers.
This is an ecological fuel.
But the powerhouse is situated near the city center.
Residents are signing petitions and getting ready to protest.
They do not want an active power plant right next to them.
But no one really has another idea how to use this structure which is part of a former well-known landmark.
And in fact, this is one of the last original buildings here.
So, when it can't be part of the future why not let it be reminiscent of the past?
For more images visit the photographers @tobi_urbex and @a.nonyme_k.nipser on Instagram.
We put the links to their accounts in the video description.
This was the fifth chapter of our Poland journey.
There is only one episode left.
But do not worry because we already filmed a new road trip series a few weeks ago.
Now this time as our first adventure in 2020
we visited our friend Toby who is right now studying in the Austrian Alps.
So we got a snowy mountain panorama combined with abandoned places rich in variety.
And that is the perfect foundation for a new series.
Here is a teaser for you.
And then we also have another announcement:
We want to do our next Q&A!
We are receiving messages from you all the time; often with the very same questions.
So we thought the best way to answer them all would be by doing another Q&A.
So if you want to know anything just write down your questions in the comments.
Contact us via email or social media and then we will try to answer them all and post the answers on patreon.
And now let's see what's next on our channel.
Next time on Broken Window Theory:
Our Poland road trip series is coming to an end.
In the final episode, we visit one of the country’s biggest cities.
For the great finale, we have been holding back two explorations of imposing power plants.
While it seems like the story is already over for one of them,
the other one is a construction site at the moment waiting to be transformed into something totally new.
The contrast between both places couldn’t be greater.
Prepare for the final chapter of Poland’s undisclosed landmarks!
We already feature urbex series shot in Italy, Poland, Hungary and some other countries.
Where should we go this year?
What country should we explore next?
Leave your suggestions in the comments.
And if you consider supporting our work, have a look on our Patreon page.
There is a link in the video description.
Thank you and keep exploring!