Jan Szembek (diplomat)

Jan Szembek (July 11, 1881 – July 9, 1945) was a Polish diplomat, one of the most influential ones in the final years of the Second Polish Republic and a close associate of Józef Beck.

Jan Szembek
Poland Ambassador to Hungary
In office
January 1919 – 19 September 1924
Succeeded byJerzy Tomaszewski
Poland Ambassador to Belgium
In office
15 September 1924 – 16 February 1927
Preceded byWładysław Sobański
Succeeded byAnatol Mühlstein
Poland Ambassador to Romania
In office
16 February 1927 – 4 November 1932
Preceded byJózef Wielowieyski
Succeeded byMirosław Arciszewski
Personal details
Born(1881-07-11)July 11, 1881
Poręba Żegoty
DiedJuly 9, 1945(1945-07-09) (aged 63)
Estoril
NationalityPolish
Alma materVienna University
ProfessionDiplomat

Early life

Szembek was born in a szlachta family on July 11, 1881, in the village of Poręba, near Alwernia. He graduated from the Vienna University and took up the post of an Austrian government clerk in Bosnia (1905-1908). In 1908, he settled in Kraków.

Diplomatic career

In 1919, after Poland regained independence from the partitions of Poland, Szembek was named chargé d'affaires and later he was the Polish ambassador in Budapest (1921-1924), Brussels (1925) and Bucharest (1927), where he remained until 1932. After returning to Poland, he took up the job of deputy secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.

After the invasion of Poland, he left Poland on September 17, 1939, along with other members of the government. His home, in the village of Mloszowa, near Trzebinia, was ransacked by the Germans, who also burned Szembek's personal library. He died on July 9, 1945, in Estoril, near Lisbon.

Bibliography

Szembek wrote two books:

  • Diariusz i teki Jana Szembeka 1934 - 1939, t. 1 - 4, London 1964 - 1972
  • Jan Szembek Diariusz. Wrzesien-Grudzien 1939, Wydawnictwo PAX Warszawa 1989, ISBN 83-211-1100-9

Decorations and awards

Sources
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