Name Jan Szembek Died 1945, Estoril, Portugal | Role Diplomat Education University of Vienna | |
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Jan Szembek (July 11, 1881 – July 9, 1945) was a Polish diplomat, one of the most influential in the final years of the Second Polish Republic, and a close associate of Jozef Beck. Szembek was born in a szlachta family on July 11, 1881, in the village of Poreba near Alwernia. He graduated from the Vienna University, then took up the post of an Austrian government clerk in Bosnia (1905–1908). In 1908 he settled in Krakow
In 1919, after Poland regained independence (see: Partitions of Poland), Szembek was named charge d'affaires. 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.
On September 17, 1939, he left Poland, together with other members of the government. His home, located 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. Szembek authored two books: