Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks
Encyclopedia
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. It opened on July 22, 1954 in a newly-built, easternmost district of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
called Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta
Nowa Huta - is the easternmost district of Kraków, Poland, . With more than 200,000 inhabitants it is one of the most populous areas of the city.- History :...
. The steelworks as well as the district were located in the area formerly occupied by the village of Mogiła and surrounding farmland.
During the Communist rule
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, the plant was called Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
Steelworks. The name was changed in 1990, following the collapse of communism
History of Poland (1989–present)
In 1989-1991, Poland engaged in a democratic transition which put an end to the Polish People's Republic and led to a democratic regime, called Polish Third Republic...
, and the factory was renamed to commemorate the scientist and engineer Tadeusz Sendzimir
Tadeusz Sendzimir
Tadeusz Sendzimir of Ostoja coat of arms was a Polish engineer and inventor of international renown with 120 patents in mining and metallurgy, 73 of which were awarded to him in the United States.His name has been given to revolutionary methods of processing steel and metals used in every...
. In its heyday – in the 1970s – the plant employed around 40,000 people and annually produced almost 7 million tons of steel. In the 1980s, it was one of the most important centers of anticommunist resistance, with numerous strikes and street demonstrations taking place in Nowa Huta.
In January 2005, the plant was purchased by the Mittal Steel Company
Mittal Steel Company
Mittal Steel Company N.V. was one of the world's largest steel producers by volume, and also one of the largests in turnover. The company is now part of ArcelorMittal....
and now it is owned by Arcelor-Mittal
Arcelor-Mittal
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a global steel company headquartered in Avenue de la Liberté, Luxembourg, Luxembourg. It is the largest steel producing company in the world and is the market leader in steel for use in automotive, construction, household appliances and packaging. It holds sizeable captive...
, the largest steelmaker in the world. Its current name is ArcelorMittal Poland S.A. Oddział Kraków, but the name Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks is still commonly used.