The
Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV had envisioned a waterway capable of taking ships from the Oder to the Danube in the 14th century. Records of further plans for such a waterway stem from the 19th century. During
the Nazi era, the idea was reborn and the project was put into motion. The project would connect the Oder to the Danube through the
Moravian region of the
Czech Republic, stretching 320 kilometres and spanning an elevation of 124 meters. On 8 December 1939,
Rudolf Hess inaugurated the then-named
Adolf Hitler Canal, today
Gliwice Canal (Polish:
Kanał Gliwicki) from Kędzierzyn-Koźle at the Oder River to the city of
Gliwice, that replaced the historic
Kłodnica Canal finished in 1812. At the same time, Hess also performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the further
Donau-Oder-Kanal. The work on the
Upper Silesian side was already discontinued in 1940. Only a few kilometres of the planned 40-km long channel from Vienna to
Angern at the Morava River were actually dug in the years up to 1943, mainly in the areas around the Lobau floodplain in the
Donaustadt district of Vienna and the adjacent town of
Groß-Enzersdorf. The branch-off at the Danube, just under 100 metres long, is still clearly recognizable today, connecting the
Ölhafen Lobau of the
OMV oil company. Two further sections are today used for swimming and fishing. Between 1964 and 1970, a part of the original plans gained attention from
Poland again and an offshoot of the Gliwice Canal was constructed. The short, finished arm east of Kędzierzyn-Koźle is known as
Kanal Kędzierzynski and serves to connect the nitrogen factory
Azoty Kędzierzyn AG to the Oder. The waterway today is again part of plans for a European
Danube–Oder–Elbe Canal project that would also connect the
Elbe river. In 2023, the Czech government cancelled the project. ==Gallery==