Bolesław Chief Executive

Bolesław Leitgeber (born July 7, 1900 in Poznań , † January 24, 1993 in Truro , Cornwall ) was a Polish diplomat , painter and writer.

Life and activity

Leitgeber was a son of Jan Leitgeber and his wife Maria, geb. Otmianowska. He studied economics at the University of Poznań . He then went through in-depth studies at the Academy for International Law in The Hague . In 1924 he entered the Polish diplomatic service. In 1928 he was assigned to the Polish embassy in Copenhagen as an attaché. In 1935 he resigned from the diplomatic service due to political differences with the government. In the following years he worked as a journalist.

In 1936 Leitgeber moved to Berlin as a correspondent for the daily Kurier Poznański . Due to his critical reporting on the prevailing conditions in Germany, his accreditation was finally withdrawn by the Reich Propaganda Ministry in 1938. As a replacement, he was sent to London as a correspondent by his editor-in-chief.

When a Polish government in exile was formed after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the subsequent occupation of his homeland in the winter of 1939/1940 , Leitgeber was reactivated as a diplomat and appointed 1st Secretary at the Polish Embassy in London. He held this position until 1943. In this position he was subordinate to Count Edward Raczyński . His main job during the war was advocating the preservation of Polish works of art.

In his spare time, Leitgeber worked as a painter: twenty-four pictures he had painted in oil, depicting scenes from London, which was devastated by German air raids, were exhibited in an exhibition in the J Ledger & Son gallery in 1941 and then as a traveling exhibition in other cities cleverly. In the same year he published a comprehensive book on the British way of life ( London. The Face and the Mask ). He also wrote film music, librettos and ballets.

After the outbreak of war, Leitgeber was classified as an important target by the National Socialist police forces: In the spring of 1940, the Reich Main Security Office in Berlin put him on the special wanted list GB , a directory of people who were considered particularly important or dangerous to the NS surveillance apparatus and who should therefore be successful Invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht should be located and arrested by the occupying troops following SS special commandos with special priority.

After the Second World War, Leitgeber joined the United Nations in New York City in 1946 . Initially, he was responsible for press issues in the London branch. In 1947 he was transferred to the UN Information Office in Washington, DC and then used as an executive director ( acting chief ) in external services . In 1948 he became director of the UN Information Center in New Delhi ( UN Information Center ).

At the end of the 1950s Leitgeber took on the task of recreating the ancient cultural treasures that would be destroyed by the construction of the Aswan Dam .

In retirement, Leitgeber continued to work as a painter and wrote several books. Leitgeber also traveled to the Far East, the Middle East, Africa and Western Europe. He built a studio house in Geneva with the architect Jan Stryjeński .

family

In 1948 he married Marie Alice de Wilden, followed by Aleksandra Pulsaka.

The temporary Polish Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski was a nephew of Leitgeber.

Fonts

• Port Kopenhaski , 1934.
• Walka portu kopenhaskiego o byt na przestrzeni wieków , 1934.
• Londyn, Oblicze i Maska , 1941.
• East and West in man's perennial quest , Calcutta 1978.
• The Dardannelles and the Sound
• Rzym w radościach i troskach dawnej Polski , 1991.

literature

• Philip Marsden: Obituary in: The Independent, February 16, 1993 ( digitized version )
• Christian E. Burckel: Who's who in the United Nations: The Authoritative, Illustrated, Biographical Dictionary of Key Persons Associated with the United Nations , 1951, p. 258.