Bumar
Fabryka Broni

The Safety Triangle

At the same time a notion was created that majority, if not all, Polish munitions industry should be concentrated within the so-called Safety Triangle – the area of mid-Vistula river-basin, distant from the borders, and additionally securely separated from the Soviet Union by the Poland’s largest river. The Safety Triangle idea is generally attributed to the then Minister of Military Affairs, Gen. K. Sosnkowski. The War Industry Section of the MMA have suggested that all newly-created production capability was situated in the area within the line Warsaw – Końskie – Kielce – Chmielnik – Tarnów – Grybów – Lesko – Przemyśl – Jarosław – Rozwadów – Dęblin – Warsaw. Including nation’s capital, Warsaw, in the Safety Triangle area was open to a heated debate. Warsaw was a large private capital center, but at the same time, a political hotbed, with workers taking active part in the social struggle – o­n both sides of the political divide. Also, the air power development put Warsaw within the range of bombers from East Prussia. Eventually, the military authorities decided then to redefine the boundaries of the Safety Triangle, now to be indicated by the Dęblin – Radom – Kielce railroad as the western bondary, then along Nida and Dunajec rivers down to Nowy Sącz, Jasło, Sanok and Przemyśl, and along San and Vistula rivers back to Dęblin – excluding Warsaw. The Army’s Administrative Chief categorically forbidden to place new national munitions factories in Warsaw as of March 1923. The new investment plan was to be prepared by the Ministry of Military Affairs.

The MMA board under Col. J. Dunajewski’s task was to find suitable locations for future plants. State-owned land was preferred to avoid ownership disputes. The State planned the largest investments within the Safety Triangle, but was unable to finance the whole of the projected endeavor. Some way to attract private capital to the rural areas of the Triangle, away from the material base and markets for the offered goods had to be devised. The o­nly way to get the private capital involved was to create a special economic zone and offer tax reductions to the investors – thus the idea of Central Industrial Area was conceived. Arguments as to the extent of the tax reductions and their place in the legal framework have delayed launching of the program to the post-1926 May Coup era, that brought about stabilization to the state structure and an economic growth. The Army-proposed tax reductions in the new industrial area were set in the Presidential Decree o­n tax reductions for industrial and communication companies of March 22, 1928.