Kasa Stefczyka w Bachowicach, czyli sposób na lichwę

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STEFCZYK'S CREDIT UNION IN BACHOWICE: A WAY TO COMBAT USURY. A CASE STUDY

Franciszek Szefczyk, also known as Stefczyk, was born in Bachowice in 1828. He graduated from university in Kraków and became secretary of the County Council. Due to his position, he had official accommodation, and every change of the County Council's seat resulted in his family moving house. In 1858, Franciszek married Ewa Marianna Wiktoria Malinowska, with whom he had eight sons. The second of these was Franciszek Jan Kazimierz, born in 1861, who later founded the banks named after him after his death, Stefczyk's Credit Union. The first credit union modelled on Raiffeisen's was established by Stefczyk in Czernichów in 1890. Several years later, in 1907, the Savings and Loan Association in Bachowice was established as a registered association with unlimited liability. Wojciech Warzecha was elected cashier and held this position until 1915, when he was called up for service in the Austro-Hungarian army. The credit union operated between 1907 and 1946. The First World War, currency changes and devaluation of money led to a loss of confidence in the credit union and a several-year hiatus in its operations. In 1924, its statutes were changed, and it was renamed Stefczyk's Credit Union. At that time, Wojciech Warzecha was re-elected as cashier, and a few years later he also became the mayor of the village of Bachowice. Administrative decisions by the authorities led to the incorporation of Stefczyk's Credit Union in Bachowice into the credit union in Spytkowice. It was then absorbed by the Cooperative Bank in Brzeźnica, which ultimately led to the liquidation of Stefczyk's Credit Union in Bachowice.