Administratively it was located in the Masovian Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown.

During the invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Karczew was captured by German troops, who then carried out a massacre of 75 Poles at the local market square on September 11, 1939.

[2] Three Poles from Karczew were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in 1940.

According to people working on this project, the main problem was the official "no-entry" car regulation, despite roads being in the vicinity.

Without cars it was not economically feasible, and after this problem was solved by removing this rule, the ferries began service.