Prezydent Krakowa Władysław Belina-Prażmowski
The Mayor of Krakow, Władysław Belina-Prażmowski

Summary/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 mayor of Kraków 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 Kraków, for example by implementing a radical savings program. He considered reducing administration costs and streamlining them to cover 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 Kraków 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 fourth bridge over the Vistula as well as the Municipal Tourist House were completed. Prażmowski also took care of cultural matters in the city and actively sought the construction of the building of the National Museum. In the matter of communication, he tried to implement the construction of the Kraków–Miechów railway. From that perspective, he saw the need to develop Kraków as a tourist center. Prażmowski’s short term gained public approval and was generally assessed positively by his contemporaries.

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