Witez II was only a yearling when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939. With both the Soviet Union and Germany occupying the country, the Janów stud was temporarily evacuated. However, though Janów was on the German side of the Curzon line, the Russian military nonetheless confiscated most of the mature breeding stock as spoils of war. Witez II, along with the bulk of the young horses, avoided this fate and ultimately was returned to Janów, which was soon under the management of the German military. As young horse, he was put into race training, but because of wartime cancellation of horse racing during the occupation of Poland, he was not taken to the track. Instead, he was put to stud, first at Janów, and then was taken to Hostau in what today is the Czech Republic, where the Nazis had gathered significant bloodstock of all different breeds from across the Third Reich.