INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

Member of the Regional Executive Board Dariusz Kurzawa, Members of Regional Parliament Zbigniew Sosnowski and Agnieszka Kłopotek, Voivode Michał Sztybel, Mayor of Bydgoszcz Rafał Bruski, and representatives of rural organizations laid flowers today (October 31) at the monument to Wincenty Witos in Ludowy Park in Bydgoszcz. We are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the death of this outstanding politician and leader of the Polish Peasant Movement — one of the fathers of the reborn independent Poland in 1918.

Three-time Prime Minister of Poland, Wincenty Witos was born on January 21, 1874, in Wierzchosławice (Małopolskie Region) into a modest peasant family. Although he received no formal education, even before World War I he became one of the leaders of the peasant movement and served as a deputy to the Galician National Sejm and the Austrian Imperial Council (Reichsrat). He never distanced himself from his rural roots; he is credited with awakening the national consciousness of Polish peasants. To this day, he remains an unquestioned authority for social activists and politicians connected with the Polish countryside. He died in 1945 in Kraków. His funeral became a massive demonstration of the peasant movement — the long funeral procession walked all the way from Kraków to Wierzchosławice.

Today’s ceremony was accompanied by the opening of an outdoor exhibition devoted to the peasant movement in the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region. The celebration was highlighted by a performance by children from the Wincenty Witos Primary School in Wola Wapowska (Inowrocław County).

On Monday (October 27), the Regional Parliament adopted a resolution to honor the memory of Wincenty Witos on the 80th anniversary of his death.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

October 31, 2025