Wartime documents from the Zonal State Archives in Rechitsa on the restoration of the Rechitsa Hardware Plant

As a result of the Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1943, Rechitsa was devastated. Industrial enterprises were also damaged, including the Internatsional nail factory (now the Rechitsa Hardware Plant). After Rechitsa’s liberation from the Nazis in November 1943, the plant’s restoration took seven years and was extremely labor-intensive due to the destroyed buildings and deteriorated equipment. Much of the work was done manually. A catastrophic shortage of workers further slowed the plant’s restoration and production.

This period in the life of the Rechitsa Hardware Plant is reflected in Resolution No.116 of the Rechitsa City Executive Committee of June 7, 1944, «On the Implementation of the Resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR of May 9, 1944, on the Restoration of the ‘International’ Nail Factory» (F. 342. Op. 1. D. 2. L. 91), which contains the following lines:

«The plant has not received all the necessary equipment for its restoration: automatic nailing machines, power equipment, cold-heading presses. The equipment it received is in disrepair, lying around in the yard, and installation of the latter has not yet begun.

The plant is not provided with local building materials. The plant’s management has not taken vigorous measures to ensure the timely restoration of the plant; to this day, the plant is not fully staffed. The construction and commissioning schedule for the workshops, established by the Council of People’s Commissars of the BSSR, is not being met».

1. ZGA Rech. Coll. 342. Inv. 1. File. 2. Sht. 91

2. Nail Factory «International». Late 1940s–1950s.