Władysław Belina-Prażmowski, Mayor of Kraków

Abstract

Władysław Belina-Prażmowski became famous during World War I as a cavalryman, creator and commander of the legionary cavalry. He was considered the most famous president of Krakow in the interwar period. He ruled the city for a short time, just a year and a half (1931-1933), in difficult times of the great economic crisis, but also in a period of great political and social tensions in the Polish state. Prażmowski was known as a good organizer and a thrifty host. His goal was to organize and modernize Krakow. He implemented the announced radical savings program. He considered reducing administration costs and streamlining them to be the most urgent and important tasks of the city management. He began to reorganize the structure of the city administration. During Prażmowski's presidency, a number of legal documents were issued regulating the work of the Krakow Magistrate and city officials. He has largely accomplished the work of converting short-term debt. Municipal investments continued. The water supply network was expanded, the slaughterhouse was expanded, the 4th bridge over the Vistula and the Municipal Tourist House were completed. Prażmowski also took care of cultural matters in the city and actively sought the construction of the National Museum building. In the matter of communication, he tried to implement the construction of the Kraków-Miechów railway. From a perspective perspective, he saw the need to develop Krakow as a tourist center. Prażmowski's short presidency gained public approval and was generally assessed positively by his contemporaries.