Jan Szembek (diplomat)

Jan Szembek
Poland Ambassador to Hungary
In office January 1919 – 19 September 1924
Succeeded by	Jerzy Tomaszewski
Poland Ambassador to Belgium
In office 15 September 1924 – 16 February 1927
Preceded by	Władysław Sobański
Succeeded by	Anatol Mühlstein
Poland Ambassador to Romania
In office 16 February 1927 – 4 November 1932
Preceded by	Józef Wielowieyski
Succeeded by	Mirosław Arciszewski
Personal details
Born	(1881-07-11)11 July 1881 Poręba Żegoty
Died	9 July 1945(1945-07-09) (aged 63) Estoril
Nationality	Polish
Alma mater	Vienna University
Profession	Diplomat

Jan Szembek (11 July 1881 – 9 July 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.

Early life

Szembek was born in a szlachta family on 11 July 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 17 September 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 9 July 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

• Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• Medal Decades of Independence Regained
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross (Brazil)
• Order of the Oak Crown (Luxembourg)
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ (Portugal)
• Order of the Crown (Romania)
• Order of the Star of Romania
• Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, 1st class
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Order of the White Star, 1st class (Estonia)

Sources

• Młoszowa at mloszowa.mbp.trzebinia.pl
• Ibidem - Zrodla do historii Polski XIX - XX w.(przypisy) at www.ibidem.com.pl

External links

• Szembek's announcement to ambassadors of Great Britain and France, issued in Warsaw on August 29, 1939