Prince Janusz Franciszek Radziwiłł (3 September 1880 – 4 October 1967) was a Polish nobleman and politician.

Early life

Prince Radziwiłł was born on 3 September 1880 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the then

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. He was the son of Prince

Ferdynand Radziwiłł Prince Ferdynand Fryderyk Radziwiłł (1834 in Berlin – 1926 in Rome) was a szlachta, Polish nobleman and Polish-German politician. He was the son of Bogusław Fryderyk Radziwiłł and Leontyna von Clary und Aldringen. Through his paternal g ...

(1834–1926) and Princess Pelagia Sapieha-Kodenska. His siblings were

Michał Radziwiłł Rudy Michał Radziwiłł Rudy (8 February 1870 – 6 October 1955 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife) was a nobleman and diplomat. Early life He was born to Ferdynand Radziwiłł and Pelagia Sapieha on 8 February 1870 in Berlin. His great-grandfather was Pri ...

, Karol Ferdynand Radziwiłł, Małgorzata. His paternal grandparents were Prince

and Countess Leontyna von

Clary und Aldringen The House of Clary und Aldringen, also known as Clary-Aldringen, is one of the most prominent Austro-Hungarian princely families. Originally from Friuli, Northern Italy, one branch of the family moved to the County of Tyrol around 1500 and to the ...

. His maternal grandparents were Prince Léon Sapieha-Kodenski and Countess Johanna

Tyszkiewicz Tyszkiewicz is the name of the Tyszkiewicz family, a Polish–Lithuanian magnate noble family of Ruthenian origin. The Lithuanian equivalent is Tiškevičius; it is frequently transliterated from Russian and Belarusian as Tyshkevich. Other peopl ...

. His great-grandfather was Prince Anton Radziwill and his great-grandmother was

Princess Louise of Prussia Princess Louise Marie Elisabeth of Prussia (; 3 December 1838 – 23 April 1923) was Grand Duchess of Baden from 1856 to 1907 as the wife of Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, Grand Duke Frederick I. Princess Louise was the second child and on ...

(1770–1836).

Career

He was a member of the government of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 *Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exist ...

and a conservative politician in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

. From 1919 to 1920, he was the Polish envoy to London and served as the Polish Foreign Minister from 1920 to 1921. He was a supporter of

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

, member of his BBWR coalition,

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

deputy from 1928 to 1935 and a member of the

Polish Senate The Senate ( pl, Senat) is the upper house of the Polish parliament, the lower house being the Sejm. The history of the Polish Senate stretches back over 500 years; it was one of the first constituent bodies of a bicameral parliament in Europe ...

from 1935 to 1939. Despite being a supporter of the government, he was critical of

sanacja Sanation ( pl, Sanacja, ) was a Polish political movement that was created in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and came to power in the wake of that coup. In 1928 its political activists would go on ...

's excesses (persecution of political opponents, censorship). In 1937 he joined the

Camp of National Unity ''Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego'' (, en, Camp of National Unity; abbreviated "''OZN''"; and often called "''Ozon''" (Polish for "ozone") was a Polish political party founded in 1937 by sections of the leadership in the Sanacja movement. A year ...

(OZON). After the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

in 1939, he was arrested by

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

. Imprisoned in the infamous

Lubyanka prison The Lubyanka ( rus, Лубянка, p=lʊˈbʲankə) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB, and its affiliated prison, on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Ne ...

, he was personally interrogated by

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

. He was released after a few months after international pressure from, among others, the Italian royal family (due to the prestige of the Radziwiłł family). He returned to

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

occupied Poland ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

, where he tried to use his prestige to improve Nazi treatment of the Poles; he met with

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

(whom he knew from before the war) but his efforts were futile. He was briefly imprisoned by the Germans during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

in 1944. After the war in 1945 he was again arrested by NKVD; his wife would die in a communist prison in 1947. He was eventually released, with most of his possessions confiscated and nationalized by the communist government. In 1959, the Polish government gave the 77 year old a passport to visit his son and daughter in England and Spain.

Personal life

On 9 December 1905, Radziwiłł was married to Princess Anna Jadwiga Maria Lubomirska (1882–1947) in Rowno,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. She was the daughter of Prince Stanislaw

Lubomirski The House of Lubomirski is a Polish princely family. The Lubomirski family's coat of arms is the Drużyna coat of arms, which is similar to the Szreniawa coat of arms but without a cross. Origin and the coat of arms The Lubomirski fa ...

and Princess Wanda Lubomirska. Together, they were the parents of: * Prince Edmund Ferdynand Radziwiłł (b. 1906), who married Princess Izabella Radziwiłł (b. 1915), daughter of Prince Charles Radziwiłł and Princess Izabella Radziwiłł, on 2 June 1934. * Princess Krystyna Maria Radziwiłł (b. 1908), who married Count

Józef Alfred Potocki Count Józef Alfred Henryk Potocki (8 April 1895 – 12 September 1968) was a Polish nobleman and diplomat who served as the Polish government-in-exile's Ambassador to Spain. Early life Count Potocki was born on 8 April 1895 in Szepetowka, a cit ...

(1895–1968), son of Count Józef Potocki and Princess Helena Radziwiłł, on 8 October 1930. Prince Potocki was the Polish exile government's Ambassador to Spain. * Prince Ludwik Ferdynand Radziwiłł (1911–1928), who died at the age of 16 at

Pszczyna Pszczyna (german: Pleß, cs, Pština) is a town in southern Poland with 25,823 inhabitants (2019), and a seat of a local gmina (commune). It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship, and was a part of the Katowice Voivodeship from 1975 until adm ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. * Prince

Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł Stanisław Albrecht "Stash" Radziwiłł (21 July 1914 – 27 July 1976) was a Polish diplomat, chargé d'affaires of the Polish government in exile at the League of Nations, delegate of the Polish Red Cross, real estate dealer, director o ...

(1914–1976), who was married three times, lastly to Caroline Lee Bouvier Canfield (1933-2019), sister of American

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American socialite, writer, photographer, and book editor who served as first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A po ...

. Radziwiłł died in his two-room apartment in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

on 4 October 1967, Before the War, he owned two palaces in Warsaw. He was buried in Poland.

References

External links

Prince Janusz Radziwill
on the Peerage.com

Ancestry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radziwill, Janusz 1880 births 1967 deaths Diplomats from Berlin Janusz 1880 Polish people of German descent Nonpartisan Bloc for Cooperation with the Government politicians Camp of National Unity politicians Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1928–1930) Members of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic (1930–1935) Senators of the Second Polish Republic (1935–1938) Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic Prisoners and detainees of Poland Polish people detained by the NKVD Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Polish deportees to Soviet Union