POWSTANIE I DZIAŁALNOŚĆ PREFEKTURY DEPARTAMENTU KRAKOWSKIEGO 1809 (1810)–1815
ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITY OF THE PREFECTURE OF THE KRAKÓW DEPARTMENT 1809 (1810)–1815

Summary/Abstract: The departmental prefecture of Kraków was established in April 1810 on the basis of the Administrative Office of the Kraków Powiat, established by the provisional Polish authorities during the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809). The creation of the prefecture was preceded by a dispute over the scope of powers of this institution and an attempt to grant Kraków a special status outside the departmental structures in the Duchy of Warsaw. In political terms, the prefect of the department presented pro-Napoleonic views until May 1813. After the seizure of Kraków by the Russian army, he switched to pro-Russian positions, seeing Tsar Alexander as the protector of the Polish cause. The Kraków Department was managed efficiently by the prefecture. In some cases (Kraków’s lo- cal governance, limitation of Jewish economic activities), the prefect of the Department applied solutions that were inconsistent with the applicable law. For the next two prefects of the Kraków Department (Stanisław Wodzicki and Kasper Wielogłowski) this office was the first stage of their official career, which ended for them with the function of the president of the Senate of the Free City of Kraków.

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