This is an auction running on EBay. I have reduced it here (obviously). The item is a factory emblem, which bears the General Electric logo. The
seller is in Moscow and says that the factory was built between 1920 and 1930.
...This is from the seller's description:
UNIQUE GENERAL ELECTRIC BRONZE SIGN from Russia 1930
This unique sign is from exe USSR.
It was on one of the largest metallurgical factories in the Europe in town Magnitogorsk.
This factory was built in 1920's - 1930's.
Experts from the USA have been involved for designing and consultation of construction of a factory.
Experts from General Electric have been involved too. Machines and mechanisms from the USA were bought also.
Size is 23 3/4" x 14 3/4".
There is number on the back side: N.P. 16700.
Weight is about 16 kg.
EBay Item
#720235419 Link
Did American companies actually build most of the infrastructure of the USSR, and did their brand names profit from those activities?
No wonder WW2 ended the way it did. Any American commie-haters would surely have loved to continue on into Russia and take out Stalin. Maybe this
item (if it is real) could shed some light on why something like that would never have been allowed?
Here's a pic of Magnitogorsk.
This is from the Wikipedia entry under "Ernst May":
en.wikipedia.org...
In 1930 May took virtually his entire Frankfurt staff to Russia. May's Brigade amounted to a task force of 17 people, including Lihotsky, her husband
Wilhelm Schuette, the Swiss Hans Schmidt, and the Dutch Mart Stam. The promise of the "Socialist paradise" was still fresh, and May's Brigade and
other groups of western planners had the hope of constructing entire cities. The first was to be Magnitogorsk. Although May's group is indeed
credited with building 20 cities in three years, the reality was that May found Magnitogorsk already under construction and the town site dominated
by the mine.
So in 1930, the city was already under construction, with a design toward using local resources as fuel for power. How did General Electric find the
time to build up Russia when their own nation (America) was in such economic distress?
This is from Wikipedia under "Magnitogorsk":
en.wikipedia.org...
The city played an important role during the World War II. Half of all tanks, each third projectile were made from steel of Magnitka.
[edit on 2-4-2006 by smallpeeps]