Dr. Zygmunt Szkopiak (12 December 1926 – 21 October 2002) was a Polish scientist, diplomat, and historian who from 1986 until its dissolution in 1990, served as the last Minister of Foreign Affairs in the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent Occupation ...

. Born in

Morzewiec Morzewiec is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Koronowo, within Bydgoszcz County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies south of Koronowo and north-west of Bydgoszcz. References

Villages in By ...

, a small village in north-central Poland, 14 km from the country's 8th largest city,

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, Zygmunt Szkopiak was 12 at the time of the September 1939 German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

. The Szkopiak family, which included his parents and siblings, was deported to Austria where they spent the war toiling as agricultural slave laborers. Liberated by the British Eighth Army, he and his family received refugee status and were sent to England where he entered the Polish College of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

, received a doctorate in the physics of

metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

and joined the staff of Battersea College of Advanced Technology which, in 1968, became the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

. He authored numerous scientific papers in his research specialties which centered upon

stress relaxation In materials science, stress relaxation is the observed decrease in stress in response to strain generated in the structure. This is primarily due to keeping the structure in a strained condition for some finite interval of time hence causing som ...

and

internal friction Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding (motion), sliding against each other. Types of friction include dry, fluid, lubricated, skin, and internal -- an incomplete lis ...

, and served as editor of a Polish scientific journal and a visiting professor abroad. He also met and married Lucia, like himself, a Polish refugee, whose father was one of the victims of the

Katyn Massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

and who reached England via

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Szkopiak was a member of the co-ordinating committee of the ''European Freedom Campaign'' group, which was established in London at an Inaugural Rally at

Westminster Central Hall The Methodist Central Hall (also known as Central Hall Westminster) is a multi-purpose venue in the City of Westminster, London, serving primarily as a Methodist church and a conference centre. The building also houses an art gallery, a restaur ...

on 10 December 1988 and consisted almost exclusively of representatives from countries behind the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

. On 17 August 1989, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' published a letter, which he signed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, explaining that "for the past 44 years we have continued as the legitimate government" and setting forth "the terms under which the Polish Government-in-Exile would cease to function". An ardent anti-communist he was a supporter of the

Western Goals Institute Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a far-right pressure group and think-tank in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation.''Labour Research'', November 1988, p. 2. ...

and was present at their dinner at

Simpson's-in-the-Strand Simpson's-in-the-Strand is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants. Situated in Strand, London, the Strand, it is part of the Savoy Buildings, which also contain one of the world's most famous hotels, the Savoy Hotel, Savoy. Th ...

on 25 September 1989 for

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

's President,

Alfredo Cristiani Alfredo Félix Cristiani Burkard (born 22 November 1947) is a Salvadoran politician who was President of El Salvador from 1989 to 1994. Life and career Born into a wealthy family in San Salvador, his father Felix Cristiani was an Italian im ...

, and his inner cabinet.''

'' and ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...

'', Court & Social page, 26 September 1989 Starting in 1984, he held the title of professor at

Polish University Abroad The Polish University Abroad, or Polish University in Exile (, abbreviated PUNO), was initially established in London in 1949 (de facto 1952). The Polish University Abroad has a B.A. programme and does research. It has outposts in Paris, France ...

and, from 1983 to 1991, was a

Christian Democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

member of the exile-based

National Council of Poland National Council of Poland () was a consulting and expert body of the Polish government in exile and Polish president. The first council was formed in December 1939 and was disbanded in July 1941 in protest to the signing of the Sikorski-Mayski ...

. His final official post, from 1991 to 1997, was as president of the

Federation of Poles in Great Britain The Federation of Poles in Great Britain () is a voluntary umbrella organisation established to promote the interests of Poles in the United Kingdom and to promote the history and culture of Poland among British people. As a charity the Federation ...

. Zygmunt Szkopiak died in London at age 75.

References

*Szkopiak, Zygmunt C (1986). ''The Yalta Agreements: Documents prior to, during and after the Crimea Conference 1945''. London: The Polish Government in Exile. *Tarka, Krzysztof (2003). ''Emigracyjna dyplomacja: Polityka zagraniczna Rządu RP na Uchodźstwie 1945–1990'' '' iplomacy of Emigration: Foreign Policy of the Polish Government in Exile 1945–1990', Warsaw. {{DEFAULTSORT:Szkopiak, Zygmunt 1926 births 2002 deaths People from Bydgoszcz County Polish Holocaust survivors Polish anti-communists Polish expatriates in the United Kingdom Polish exiles 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Alumni of the University of London Academics of the University of Surrey