Gliwice is home to what remains of Huldschinskyche Hüttenwerke AG. Founded for pipe manufacture in 1867 by
Solomon Huldschinksy and Albert Hahn, the mill installed Siemens-Martins
furnaces in 1890 and made a start producing wheels and rims for the
railroad. Then in World War I, the mill
switched to munitions production. At its height in World War II, the
steel works employed 20,000 workers.
The water tower itself was built 1930- after the
Soviets had renamed the mill “May 1” and added glass production. A
spiral staircase reaches to the heavens. But the ascent is treacherous: there is no rail, surfaces are crumbling, and the occasional
step is dislodged and dangling from rusty cables.
The land has been cleared where May 1 once
operated. Gliwice has long been a shopping destination for regions west of the Katowice conurbation, and soon
this plot will be home to a new shopping mall.
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