Wincenty Witos

Infobox Officeholder
name = Wincenty Witos


imagesize =
small

caption =
order = Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
4^th Prime Minister of the Second Republic
term_start = June 10, 1920
term_end = June 23, 1920
vicepresident =
viceprimeminister =
deputy =
president = Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State)
primeminister =
predecessor = Leopold Skulski
successor = Władysław Grabski
order2 = Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
6^th Prime Minister of the Second Republic
term_start2 = July 14, 1920
term_end2 = September 13, 1921
vicepresident2 =
viceprimeminister2 =
deputy2 =
president2 = Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State)
primeminister2 =
predecessor2 = Władysław Grabski
successor2 = Antoni Ponikowski
order3 = Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
13^th Prime Minister of the Second Republic
term_start3 = May 18, 1923
term_end3 = December 14, 1923
vicepresident3 =
viceprimeminister3 =
deputy3 =
president3 = Stanisław Wojciechowski
primeminister3 =
predecessor3 = Władysław Sikorski
successor3 = Władysław Grabski
order4 = Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
16^th Prime Minister of the Second Republic
term_start4 = May 10, 1926
term_end4 = May 14, 1926
vicepresident4 =
viceprimeminister4 =
deputy4 =
president4 = Stanisław Wojciechowski
primeminister4 =
predecessor4 = Aleksander Skrzyński
successor4 = Kazimierz Bartel
birth_date = January 22, 1874
birth_place = Wierzchosławice, then Austro-Hungary, now Poland
death_date = October 31, 1946
death_place = Kraków, Poland
constituency =
party = Polish People's Party "Piast"
spouse =
profession = Farmer
religion =


footnotes =

Wincenty Witos (22 January 1874 - 31 October 1945) was a prominent member of the Polish People's Party (PSL) from 1895, and leader of its "Piast" faction from 1913. He was a member of parliament in the Galician Sejm from 1908-1914, and an envoy to "Reichsrat" in Vienna from 1911 to 1918. Witos was also a leader of Polish Liquidation Committee ( _pl. Polska Komisja Likwidacyjna) in 1918, head of the Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe Piast party, and member of parliament in the Polish Sejm from 1919-1920.

He served thrice as the premier of Poland, in 1920-1921, 1923 (Chjeno-Piast), and 1926.

In 1926 the third Witos government was overthrown by the May coup d'état led by Józef Piłsudski. Witos had been one of the leaders of the opposition to the Sanacja-government as head of Centrolew (1929-1930) and co-founded the Stronnictwo Ludowe. Having been imprisoned shortly thereafter and for a time living in exile in Czechoslovakia from 1933, he returned to Poland in 1939 only to be imprisoned again by the invading Germans.

In ill health by 1945, he became one of vice-chairmen of the State National Council ( _pl. Krajowa Rada Narodowa) after World War II.

His great-granddaughter, Ela, is an architect.

External links

* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0852551.html Wincenty Witos] - a short biography
* [http://www.psl.org.pl/english/witos.php Polish People's Party] - a longer, reverential biography