Prezydent Krakowa Jan Kanty Federowicz

The aim of this article is the biographical study of Jan Kanty Federowicz (1858–1924), who was the first mayor of Krakow in reborn Poland and the only one in the interwar period to be born in Krakow. For many years, he belonged to a small group of people who managed Krakow, first as a close associate of Mayor Juliusz Leo, then as Deputy Mayor of the city (1916–1918), and then as Mayor (1918–1924). He was well acquainted with the functioning of city self-government. The period in which he held the highest office in Krakow’s local government was very difficult. At the time, the local government was faced with a wide and unprecedented range of tasks resulting from the war and from the changes in the political system. The great challenge was to overcome enormous economic difficulties, including supply difficulties. In this study, he was presented as the only one of Krakow’s administrators in the interwar period to hold a parliamentary seat. Federowicz strove for and defended the city’s interests, but he failed to push through the concept of Krakow as the great centre of south-western Poland, as well as to link Upper Silesia administratively and economically with Krakow