The Karbid Wielkopolski or Greater Poland Carbide Factory is a defunct firm (1906-1949) which was established in the northern district of Smukała in Bydgoszcz, Poland. It produced carbide: the facility, where a Nazi transit camp was set up during WWII, is survived today by a dam feeding a hydroelectric power plant on the Brda river.
History
Initial Prussian facility
At the beginning of the 20th century, the growing demand of the German economy for calcium acetylide or calcium carbide could not be met by the insufficient domestic production. The shortage had to be covered by imports. Abroad, competitors in this industry, especially in the Scandinavian countries, proved to have much lower fabrication costs, thanks mainly for the energy coming from hydropower plants that supplied their carbide plants.
Facing these considerations, the German company Brandenburgisches Carbidwerk GmbH, established in 1902, started to look in the eastern territory of Prussia for a suitable location where new investments in this sector could be realized in order to increase national production. The result of its survey concluded that the best location was the village of Mühlthal () -today a district of Bydgoszcz. Indeed, the Brda river waters at this spot provided a constant flow through the year, in particular with the absence of freezing. Furthermore, the plot was close enough to the Prussian Eastern Railway network, with which the connection was made possible by an existing narrow-gauge railway.
Works started in 1904, and lasted less than two years. In February 1906, the hydroelectric power plant on the river with its extensions was operative. The complex comprised: a water reservoir; a weir; a dam; a water channel to the power house; a turbine hall; the carbide factory itself, powered by the electricity of the turbine. In addition, the premises housed residential buildings for workers and administrative staff.
Among the three plants owned by the Prussian company, Smukała facility in 1917/1918 was more profitable than the one at Steinbusch and almost as profitable as the third one at Borkendorf. To boost its activity, the Brandenburgisches Carbidwerk GmbH did not limit the use of carbide for lighting and welding, but also opened it to the production of potassium fertilizer for the agriculture.
The Polish factory
In 1920, with the re-creation of the Polish state, German trade and industry were "polonized", so was carbide factory in Smukała. The joint-stock company "Karbid Wielkopolski" was established on the site of the liquidated "Brandenburgisches Carbidwerk GmbH" and took over the production on July 1, 1921. The seat of the new firm was at 76 Gdańska street in Bydgoszcz, in a tenement house belonging to Stanisław Rolbieski.
Its Supervisory board consisted initially of nine Polish citizens: Melchior Wierzbicki (1867-1925), a lawyer, national and social activist, also member of other supervisory boards, e.g. Bank Stadthagen, Lloyd Bydgoski; Tadeusz Chmielarski (1876-1945) a lawyer, vice-president of Bydgoszcz, member of the supervisory board of Lloyd Bydgoski, president of the "Bydgoszcz "Fowler Brotherhood" () on Toruńska Street; Karol Bauer, the director of the Bank Stadthagen; Konrad Fiedler (1886-1939) a journalist, traveler, national and social activist, editor-in-chief of "Dziennik Bydgoski" and city counselor; Leon Figiel, the director of two firms, "Wisła", a wood factory and "Promień", producing matches; Father Jan Filipiak (1881-1946), a priest, administrator of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Bydgoszcz, parish priest in Panigródz, dean of Inowrocław, honorary canon of Gniezno; Marian Maryński (1883-1938), a doctor, surgeon, social activist, member of the supervisory board of "FEMA", a metal products factory at 11 Doktora Emila Warmińskiego street; Józef Milchert (1874-1930), a merchant, national and social activist, owner of a vodka and liqueur factory, inventor of 25 patents, founder of the "Bydgoszcz Merchants' Association"; Maksymilian Sentkowski (1875-1942), a merchant, vice president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bydgoszcz, president of the Bydgoszcz Merchants' Association, city counselor, president and member of supervisory boards of several banks and companies, co-founder of the "Promień" match factory;
The following year the council was added three additional seats: one for Bydgoszcz president, Bernard Śliwiński in 1922, as a vice-chairman; Father Tadeusz Malczewski (1873-1929), a Catholic priest, dean of Bydgoszcz, pastor of the cathedral, clerical counselor, member of the Poznań Society of Sciences; Stanisław Niesiołowski (1880-1927), a national activist and first Starosta of the Bydgoszcz County.