Stechkovsky, Jan Kanty

Born into a family of public schools inspectors.

In his youth, he studied law at Vilnius and Jagiellonian universities . He continued his studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Vienna and in 1884 received a doctorate there. In December 1886, he received a Ph.D. from the Jagiellonian University.

He later had a law practice in Rzeszow and Lviv.

In 1894-1907 worked in the main department of the Association of Agricultural Societies in Lviv, in 1898-1899. was her secretary in 1901 and in 1903-1905. - Vice President. From 1899 to 1906 he was the director of the Galician Savings Bank in Lviv.

In 1906 he became director of the Institute of Trade and Industry in Lemberg , now Lviv. He also dealt with issues of state financing of agriculture. In 1913-1920 he managed the State Bank in Lemberg and at the same time was a member of the supervisory boards of a number of large industrial and commercial enterprises. He was a member of the General Committee for Assistance to Victims of the First World War .

After the creation of the State Council of Poland, created by the occupying German and Austro-Hungarian authorities, he became an unofficial adviser on tax organization issues. At the initiative of the National Department, he procured the Krakow Basin from private hands in favor of the state.

In the government of Jan Kukhazhevsky, he held the post of Minister of Finance (1918), and in April 1918 he took his place, having been Prime Minister until December. He led the cabinet laid the foundations of the state tax system and prepared bills for the financial system, strengthened the Armed Forces of Poland, sought to form education systems and local self-government, announced the adoption of the creation of social legislation.

In April 1918, he sent a secret note to the Central Powers on the need to create an independent state within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland. In it, he agreed with the territorial exchange with the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the loss of the four northern counties, announced his readiness to conclude military and commercial agreements with the “Central Powers”, and to provide free navigation on the Vistula. Stetskovsky's secret note was published on August 25, 1918 in the German edition of Berliner Tageblatt . The disclosure of the contents of the note caused a wave of criticism and indignation in Polish society, and as a result of September 5, 1918 he was forced to resign as prime minister.

In 1921, he participated in the conclusion of the Riga Peace Treaty of Poland and the RSFSR . In the government of Vincenta Vitos again served as Minister of Finance (1920-1921).

Then he was the director of the Polish National Credit Fund, the only issuing institution in Poland (before the creation of the Bank of Poland). In the years 1922-1927 headed the State Bank of Poland. In the years 1926-1927 He was also president of the British and Polish Merchant Bank in Gdansk.

All his life he held conservative convictions. He was buried at the Rakovitsky cemetery in Krakow .

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Renaissance of Poland (1927),
• Commander Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph (1913).

• Polska pożyczka zagraniczna w złocie . - 1919.
• Zewnętrzna pożyczka państwa polskiego w złocie . - Warsz. : Wydawnictwo "Przeglądu Dyplomatycznego", 1920.
• O naprawie skarbu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej . - 1923.

• Słownik biograficzny adwokatów polskich. - T. II, zeszyt 3/4: M — Ż. - Warsz. 2007 (autor biogramu T. Burakowski).
• JM Majchrowski, K. Stepan, G. Mazur . Kto kim był w drugiej Rzeczypospolitej. Polska Oficyna Wydawnicza "BGW". - Warsz. 1994

• Jan Stechkovsky Foundation