Starania instytucji państwowych, samorządowych i spółdzielczych o przejęcie browarów na Pomorzu Zachodnim w latach 1945–1949 na przykładzie Szczecina, Słupska i Szczecinka

The nationalisation of industry after 1945 is a topic of great importance for the history of Poland after the Second World War, which, however, has been insufficiently explored, especially with regard to in-depth research of particular cases. The takeover of industrial plants by the state authorities was complicated, especially in the Recovered Territories, where both everyday life and the administrative structures of the Polish state were in turmoil. The preserved archival materials made it possible to trace the process of nationalising several important food industry plants, namely the breweries in Szczecin, Słupsk and Szczecinek. The article analyses the intricate history of the takeover of these plants by the state authorities. In the course of research it was determined that although the Main Office of the Temporary State Administration, and later the District Liquidation Offices, had the best legal basis to have the full right to these plants, there were many more institutions interested in taking them over. On the local government level these were the City Board, the Provincial Office and the District Office, and on the state level the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Recovered Territories and the Central Planning Office. Additionally, producer cooperatives, initially supported by state authorities after the end of the war, also became involved. It was not until the late 1940s that these breweries came under the control of central state authorities, which took place at the expense of the producer cooperatives and local governments and, moreover, in a manner that raised legal questions.