Wincenty Witos
Wincenty Witos | |
---|---|
Prime Minister of Poland | |
In office 10 May 1926 – 14 May 1926 | |
President | Stanisław Wojciechowski |
Preceded by | Aleksander Skrzyński |
Succeeded by | Kazimierz Bartel |
In office 18 May 1923 – 19 December 1923 | |
President | Stanisław Wojciechowski |
Deputy | Stanisław Głąbiński Wojciech Korfanty |
Preceded by | Władysław Sikorski |
Succeeded by | Władysław Grabski |
In office 24 July 1920 – 19 September 1921 | |
Chief of State Deputy | Józef Piłsudski Ignacy Daszyński |
Preceded by | Władysław Grabski |
Succeeded by | Antoni Ponikowski |
Personal details | |
Born | 22 January 1874 Polish People's Party "Piast" |
Profession | Farmer |
Wincenty Witos (Polish pronunciation:
He was a member of the Polish People's Party from 1895, and the leader of its "
He served three times as the
In ill health by March 1941, he was put on supervised release by the Germans and ordered to stay in Wierzchosławice. In July 1944 the German occupation authorities requested that he declare an anti-Soviet appeal, but he refused to do so.[12] In 1945, he was nominated one of the vice-chairmen of the State National Council (Polish: Krajowa Rada Narodowa) after World War II. In 1945-46 the People's Party was reorganized and taken over by Stanisław Mikołajczyk.
Early life
Wincenty was born in a peasant family in Wierzchosławice. His parents were Wojciech and Katarzyna née Sroka. The family was poor, owning little land and no livestock and they lived in a single room hut which had been converted from a barn. Wincenty had two brothers, Jan and Andrzej. Andrzej would also become a leader in the Polish agrarian movement.
He began his education in the village school at the age of ten and finished four grades. Subsequently, he worked, helping his father, as a lumberjack for Prince Eustachy Stanisław Sanguszko.
Between 1895 and 1897 Wincenty served in the Austrian Army (Galicia was part of the
He married Katarzyna Trach on 9 February 1898. His daughter Julia was born on 22 March 1899.
Early political activity
At the age of nineteen he published his first newspaper article in the Przyjaciel Ludu ("Friend of the People") based in
In April 1909 Witos was elected the wójt (mayor) of his native Wierzchosławice. During his tenure he focused on the economic development of the village, oversaw the construction of a mill and a social center, improved local roads, expanded the school and organized a farmer's cooperative and credit union. He gradually rose in the ranks of the agrarian movement.
Road to independence
In December 1913 the People's Party split. As a result, in February 1914, Witos was elected as vice president of the newly created political party
After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Witos became even more involved in party activities. The group joined the Supreme National Committee a quasi-government for the Poles in Galicia, for which Witos served as vice president. As the political events associated with the war unfolded and the Committee became more and more irrelevant, Witos resigned.[14]
During the war Witos kept in touch with Polish independence movement activists, including
In 1916 he became the president of "Piast". He coauthored a
Prime Minister: 1920-1921, 1923, 1926
Second Cabinet
On 17 May 1923, an agreement was held in
He resigned in December 1923.
Third Cabinet and Coup d'état
In November 1925, the government of
The night of 11 to 12 May, a state of alert was declared in the Warsaw military garrison, and some units marched to Rembertów, where they pledged their support to Piłsudski. On 12 May, they marched on Warsaw and captured bridges over the
Post-Premiership
Centrolew
On 26 May 1926, Witos resigned as President of the Polish People's Party "Piast" shortly after his removal from power, though it was not adopted. He resigned in 1927 as President of the Małopolska Agricultural Society due to the limitation of state financial assistance. On 18 August 1927, the Krakow Provincial Office dissolved the Union of Commune Heads, which was created by Witos and operating in
From 1929–1930, Witos was one of the leaders of Centrolew (English: Centre-left), a coalition of several Polish political parties (Polish People's Party "Wyzwolenie", Polish People's Party "Piast", National Workers' Party, Polish Socialist Party and Christian-democratic parties). The coalition was directed against Piłsudski and the Sanation government. Witos participated, among others at the Congress of Defense of People's Rights and Freedom in Krakow (organized by Centrolew) in June 1930, during which he gave a speech.
Brest trials
The Polish
Regardless of Sanation's struggle against the well-known parties, Witos declared the need to consolidate with peasant groups. On 15 March 1931, he formed the "united"
Your Honor, I was the president of this government that was overthrown by the May coup. So I wasn't plotting, I wasn't plotting, but I, along with the government, was the victim of a plot and assassination. This government was not a usurper government, it was a constitutional government, in a lawful manner, in a completely lawful manner appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland. Someone else was swinging, someone else was plotting, and I am sitting on the bench!
During the trial, Witos's lawyer was attorney Stanisław Szurlej. The accused were acquitted of the charge of preparing a coup d'état, though they were convicted of their activities. Witos was sentenced to 1/5 years in prison and deprived of public rights for 3 years. Witos was imposed a fine of PLN 80, similar to the fine imposed on Kazimierz Bagiński. The Brest trial ended in January 1932, with 10 accused receiving sentences up to three years of imprisonment; the appeals of 1933 confirmed the sentences. On 7–11 February 1933, an appeal hearing was held which culminated in the approval of the first-instance judgment. On 9 May, the Supreme Court cancelled this judgment and referred the case back to the court. On 11–20 July, a second hearing was held before the Court of Appeal which found the first judgment justified. The verdict was finally approved by the Supreme Court, which on 2–5 October, reconsidered the appeal of the defenders. Five of the convicts went to prison to serve their sentence. Witos, Adam Pragier, Wladyslaw Kiernik, Kazimierz Baginski and Herman Lieberman went into exile, before the approval of the judgment by the Supreme Court. They wrote in a joint statement:
We will not again be hostage to the dictatorship, as in 1930 ... The country demands from us not martyrdom, but a struggle to remove the mafia, which established its reign on lies, harm and depravity of characters. We left Poland to continue fighting the hated dictatorship.
References
- ^ "Friendship Association of Wincenty Witos Museum in Wierzchosławice". www.tpmw.pl. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "Authors". polskietradycje.pl. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "150 lat temu urodził się Wincenty Witos, jeden z ojców niepodległej Polski". dzieje.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ S.A, Telewizja Polska. "150 lat temu urodził się Wincenty Witos, jeden z ojców niepodległej Polski". polonia.tvp.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ Opole, Radio (2024-01-21). "150. rocznica urodzin Wincentego Witosa". 150. rocznica urodzin Wincentego Witosa (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "Wincenty Witos | Polish Prime Minister, Peasant Leader | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "Wincenty Witos". AncientFaces. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "PATRON | Zespół Szkół im. Wincentego Witosa w Zarzeczu". www.zszarzecze.com. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "Wincenty Witos". Lubimyczytać.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ Redakcja (2024-01-21). "22 stycznia 1874 roku w urodził się Wincenty Witos » Historykon.pl". Historykon.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2024-01-22.
- ^ "Poland". Life Magazine. 29 August 1938. p. 51.
- ^ "Wincenty Witos (1874-1945)".
- ^ "President: No independence without peasant leader Witos".
- ^ "President: No independence without peasant leader Witos".
- ^ "President: No independence without peasant leader Witos".
- ^ "President: No independence without peasant leader Witos".
External links
- Rose, W. J. (November 1946). "Wincenty Witos". The Slavonic and East European Review. 25 (64).
- Wincenty Witos - a short biography
- Polish People's Party - a longer, reverential biography
- Newspaper clippings about Wincenty Witos in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW