Klecina sugar refinery II, Wrocław, from Development series.
Klecina Sugar Refinery, built in 1837 while Wrocław was still in Germany. After a steady process of further expansion, the whole Klecina neighbourhood was adjacent to the factory covering 43 hectares. The plant was closed in 1994 and sold off, and was demolished almost entirely to make place for planned aquapark and shopping mall, which were never built. Only remains of the plant are three buildings on Supińskiego street, the last one ending abruptly where second section of heating facility once was. Above the windows, a huge slogan KAPITULIEREN NIE (never surrender) was painted in block letters. I was always certain that this was a souvenir from the days when Wrocław was a stronghold of Nazi Germany, Festung Breslau – only doing research for this text I’d discovered that in fact, the remains of sugar refinery were used as a backdrop for a war movie. Only other mark left by a plant once so important for the local economy and hiring most of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood can be found on the map of the district – a bunch of streets were named after sweet goods, so there’s a Chocolate st., Marzipan st., Waffle st. and so on.
