Hydrierwerke Pölitz, Industrial ruins near Baltic Sea in Police, Poland.
Hydrierwerke Pölitz is a former coal liquefaction plant near Police in northwestern Poland, with concrete remains scattered across a large industrial site. Tall concrete walls and fragmented structures fill the landscape, giving visitors a sense of the facility's original scale.
Built in 1937, the facility supplied synthetic fuel to the German war effort during World War II before falling into disuse after 1945. The end of production left the structures to decay gradually over decades.
The site serves as a reminder of the people forced to work here under brutal conditions, and visitors approach it with quiet respect for what happened. The ruins themselves have become a place where that difficult history is acknowledged and felt.
The site is difficult to access safely because many structures remain unstable and walls are crumbling. Visitors should stick to designated paths and keep distance from damaged buildings.
The plant used an advanced chemical process to transform crushed coal into high-quality gasoline, a method that was state-of-the-art technology at the time. This technical innovation was crucial to the war effort and allowed for efficient production on a relatively compact site.
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