On 25 January 2026, commemorative ceremonies marking the 152nd anniversary of the birth of Wincenty Witos were held in Wierzchosławice. The Institute of National Remembrance was represented by its Deputy President, Mateusz Szpytma Ph.D., and the Director of the Cracow Branchof the IPN,Prof. Filip Musiał

The event was inaugurated with a Holy Mass celebrated in the parish church in Wierzchosławice in memory of Wincenty Witos, a long-standing activist of the Polish peasant  movement and one of the principal architects of the Second Polish Republic. Following the service, delegations laid flowers at the graves of Stanisław Mierzwa and Wincenty Witos and lit a memorial candle at Witos’s bust. The ceremonies concluded with a gathering of members of the peasant movement. In his address, Deputy President Szpytma spoke, among other matters, about the Institute’s plans for the current year to commemorate distinguished activists of the Polish peasant movement who were victims of totalitarian regimes.

As part of the anniversary events, the participants had the opportunity to listen to a patriotic concert by the “Angel Voice” Choir of the Wincenty Witos Primary School in Rudka, followed by a discussion entitled “Wincenty Witos: The Road to Independence.”

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Wincenty Witos was an peasant movement activist, from 1895 a member of the Peasants’ Party in Galicia. Initially, he supported the idea of the Polish Legions, perceiving Austro-Hungary as the guarantor of the re-emergence of the Polish state. From 1915 on, he began to support the idea promoted by the National Democracy, of the rapprochement with the Western powers. In the autumn of 1918, he was appointed the head of the Polish Liquidation Committee in Cracow, a temporary government with the mission of taking power in the western part of the sector controlled by the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the Polish-Soviet War, he was the Prime Minister and member of the Council of National Defence.