Projekt kanału Bydgoszcz–Gdynia w okresie międzywojennym
Bydgoszcz – Gdynia Canal Project during the Interwar Period

Summary/Abstract: The concept of linking Bydgoszcz and the port of Gdynia via a ship canal, cir-cumventing the Free City of Danzig (Pol. Gdańsk), originated in 1926. However, theproject’s preparatory phase began only in 1932 and continued until 1937. This initia-tive constituted a strategic political and economic move by the authorities of the Sec-ond Polish Republic against the Free City of Danzig and was an integral element of thebroader plan to develop Poland’s inland waterway network. To date, the initiative toconstruct a canal between Bydgoszcz and Gdynia has not been the focus of extensiveacademic 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 en-gineers, alongside newspaper reports and press coverage related to the canal project.Sparse archival materials are only subsidiary, with the exception of one significant filefrom the interwar Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ministry endeavoured todownplay the canal construction issue to avoid escalating tensions with the Free Cityof Danzig. Germans, including the German population of Danzig and the local press,regarded the proposal to construct a canal to Gdynia as financially impractical. WithinPoland, the proposal sparked considerable debate among journalists, engineers, andlocal government officials. Some proponents urged for the project’s swift implementa-tion, while others recommended abandoning the idea to preserve amicable relationswith Danzig. Additionally, towns and cities along the Vistula River expressed concernsabout potential economic marginalisation if the canal were constructed. Ultimately,the plan to build the Bydgoszcz–Gdynia canal, which never advanced beyond its ini-tial conception, was abandoned even before the outbreak of the Second World War.

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