Janusz Radziwiłł (1880-1967)

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Prince Janusz Radziwill (born September 3, 1880 in Berlin , † October 4, 1967 in Warsaw ) was a Polish landowner and politician from the Radziwiłł Princely House .

Janusz Radziwill

Education and family

Radziwill was the son of Ferdinand von Radziwill and his wife, Princess Pelagia Sapieha .

Radziwill graduated from high school at the Karolineum in Osnabrück . He then studied forest sciences in Eberswalde .

In 1905 he married Princess Anna Lubomirska (1882–1948). Radziwill spoke a number of European languages.

First World War

Radziwill, who had both German and Russian citizenship, was at his Olyka Castle in what is now Ukraine when the First World War broke out in 1914 . After the October Revolution he came to the West with his family.

Only then did Radziwill emerge politically. He was a member of the government of the reign of Poland, proclaimed by the Central Powers in 1916 . From April 4, 1918 to September 26, 1918, he held the position of Foreign Minister.

Politician of the Polish Republic

In the Second Polish Republic he was a large landowner , entrepreneur and publisher. He owned a large art collection. This included works of antiquity as well as Italian and French paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. Works of art of high standing from Germany were also part of his collection. Because of his support for the Polish government set up by the German military administration, he was initially unpopular.

Nevertheless, he later made a career as a politician. In 1926, as the main spokesman for the conservative nobility, he met Józef Piłsudski and promised him political support from monarchist and conservative organizations.

Radziwill was a member of the Sejm between 1928 and 1935 and of the Senate from 1935 to 1938 . At times he was chairman of the Polish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. He was conservative, an opponent of both right and left radicalism. He has criticized the nationalist course of politics at times.

When Józef Piłsudski asked to go to Germany as ambassador in 1934 , he replied negatively, as he was not convinced of Adolf Hitler's ongoing declarations of peace . Nevertheless he was interested in good relations with Germany. At the insistence of Foreign Minister Józef Beck , he visited Hermann Göring to hunt in 1935 in order to arrange a meeting between Göring and the Polish leadership.

Second World War

After the Soviet occupation of parts of Poland, Radziwill was arrested by the NKVD in 1939 and imprisoned in the Lubyanka . He was interrogated twice by the head of the secret service Lavrenti Beria , who tried to win Radziwill over to the Soviet side.

Under pressure from abroad, including from Göring and the Italian royal family, Radziwill was released a few months later. He returned to German-occupied Poland , became head of the “main auxiliary council” tolerated by the Germans, and maintained contacts with the resistance. In 1940 he presented Göring with a memorandum aimed at securing the release of the Krakow professors. His attempts to intervene with the Germans on behalf of his compatriots failed. He was temporarily arrested during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

post war period

After 1945 he and his wife were arrested again by the NKVD. His wife died while in custody. His property and castles were nationalized by the government of the People's Republic of Poland . Immediately before the beginning of the war, Radziwill had given his art treasures to the Polish National Museum for safekeeping. In this way they avoided expropriation. He sold some of the works to the state and was able to live on the proceeds. He traded his ruined Przebendowski Palace for an apartment in Warsaw. The government later even allowed him some trips abroad. In 1953, the Soviet chief of intelligence, Beria, used him as an envoy to launch a plan for German reunification in the West.

One of Radziwill's sons was John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law .

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Radziwiłł, Janusz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Radziwill, Janusz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish landowner and politician, member of the Sejm
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 4th October 1967
Place of death Warsaw