Elektrit Radiotechnical Society ( pl, Towarzystwo Radiotechniczne „ELEKTRIT”) was the largest privately owned company in

Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

Second Republic of Poland The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

(now Vilnius, Lithuania) (1925–39). With over 1100 workers, the society produced approximately 50 thousand radio receivers annually. A large percentage of the production was exported abroad, mostly to Sweden, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. The annual turnover exceeded US$1 million. Elektrit proved to be a very successful company and soon became a leading radio manufacturer in Poland. Following the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

in 1939, Wilno was occupied by the Soviet Union and the company was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to priv ...

. In 1940 the factory was hastily dismantled and transported to

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

, where the "Vyacheslav Molotov" Radio Factory was set up. After the war the plant was renamed Minsk Radio and Television Association "Horizont" (Horizon). It produced "Minsk" radio receivers, being copies of Polish pre-war models but with Soviet tube set. The former Elektrit buildings in Vilnius were used for the

Kailis forced labor camp Kailis forced labor camp (''kailis'' is Lithuanian for ''fur'') was a Nazi labor camp for Jews in Vilnius (pre-war Second Polish Republic, post-war Lithuanian SSR) during World War II. It was based on a pre-war fur and leather factory and mostly ...

during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 193 ...

and by a secret Soviet radio factory of the Ministry of Aviation Industry, known as PO Box 555.

References

External links

*
Full-text of monthly newspaper ''ELEKTRIT-RADIO. Wiadomości techniczne zakładów Elektrit w Wilnie'' published by Elektrit in 1937–39
{{coord, 54, 40, 38, N, 25, 16, 1, E, region:LT_type:landmark, display=title Defunct manufacturing companies of Poland Second Polish Republic Economy of Minsk History of Vilnius Science and technology in Poland Companies nationalised by the Soviet Union Electronics companies of Poland Defunct manufacturing companies of Lithuania Companies set up in the Second Republic of Poland