Cooperative Activity in Europe

The first cooperative was organized in 1844 by a group of workers in Rochdale, England. That same year in Germany, Victor Aime Huber developed some of the early European cooperative theories, and the idea of credit societies was a part of this effort.

Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen created the first true credit unions in Germany in 1852 and 1864. In 1849, Raiffeisen founded a credit society in Flammersfeld, but it depended on the charity of wealthy men for its support. In 1864, Raiffeisen organized a new credit union along principles that are still fundamental today.

These German credit societies - along with similar institutions that Luigi Luzzatti founded in Italy - were the forerunners of today's large cooperative "banks" in Europe.