Projekt kanału Bydgoszcz–Gdynia w okresie międzywojennym

The concept of linking Bydgoszcz and the port of Gdynia via a ship canal, circumventing the Free City of Danzig (Pol. Gdańsk), originated in 1926. However, the project’s preparatory phase began only in 1932 and continued until 1937. This initiative constituted a strategic political and economic move by the authorities of the Second Polish Republic against the Free City of Danzig and was an integral element of the broader plan to develop Poland’s inland waterway network. To date, the initiative to construct a canal between Bydgoszcz and Gdynia has not been the focus of extensive academic research. Only a few scholars have referred to it briefly in their publications. The analysis presented here is grounded primarily in articles authored by water engineers, alongside newspaper reports and press coverage related to the canal project. Sparse archival materials are only subsidiary, with the exception of one significant file from the interwar Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry endeavoured to downplay the canal construction issue to avoid escalating tensions with the Free City of Danzig. Germans, including the German population of Danzig and the local press, regarded the proposal to construct a canal to Gdynia as financially impractical. Within Poland, the proposal sparked considerable debate among journalists, engineers, and local government officials. Some proponents urged for the project’s swift implementation, while others recommended abandoning the idea to preserve amicable relations with Danzig. Additionally, towns and cities along the Vistula River expressed concerns about potential economic marginalisation if the canal were constructed. Ultimately, the plan to build the Bydgoszcz–Gdynia canal, which never advanced beyond its initial conception, was abandoned even before the outbreak of the Second World War.