1. Military Supply Depot

Until the 1940s, this place housed a Royal Military Depot which supplied the Prussian soldiers stationed in Poznań at that time. Apart from its core function, the building was to play the propagandist role of manifesting the presence of the military in the city. This was because it was the first building to be seen after crossing the Berlin Gate and entering the city.

Between the world wars, the building was taken over by the Polish Army and was e.g. the HQ of the 14th Infantry Division of Wielkopolska, as attested by the plaque on the façade. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the basement housed the clandestine branch of what was later to be known as the Cipher Bureau. This is where the prospective Enigma codebreakers, Marian Rejewski, Henryk Zygalski and Jerzy Różycki, started their career paths.

After the Battle of Poznań (January-February 1945), the damaged yet not completely ruined military depot was to be rebuilt. The reconstruction was quickly stopped, however, and the prestigious location in the city centre was used instead for the regional headquarters of the Polish United Workers’ Party.

Learn more about the building’s history here.