The forge in the Polish industrial district of Łabędy is just a fragment of the famous Bumar metallurgical plant.
Its construction began in 1938 and the complex with an electric and open-hearth steelworks, steel foundry, a forge and a heavy engineering plant was one of the pillars of the Polish arms industry. However it soon fell into the hands of the Nazis, and immediately after the end of the war most of the equipment was taken to Zaporozhye in Ukraine as a part of post-war reparations.
In 1946 the Huta Łabędy, lately known as Joseph Stalin Mechanical Works Łabędy (Zakłady Mechaniczne Łabędy), was established.
The production portfolio followed the footsteps of the pre-war concept with main focus on the arm industry and heavy engineering.
Since 2014 the engineering plant is part of "Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA" group.
The foundry and forging operations are on a downturn by difficult privatization.
However, the recently founded company Kuźnia Łabędy is still giving a spark of hope.
Keywords: kuznia labedy, forge, kovárna, bumar labedy, industrial photography, industriekultur, beautyofsteel, drop hammer, buchar, forgefront, 2019
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