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Józef Lipski (5 June 1894 – 1 November 1958) was a Polish diplomat and Ambassador to
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
from 1934 to 1939. Lipski played a key role in the
foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through mu ...
of the
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First Worl ...
.


Life

Lipski trained as a lawyer, and joined the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1925. From 29 October 1934 to 1 September 1939, Lipski served as the Polish ambassador to Germany. One of his first assignments in 1934 was to work on the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact, Feigue Cieplinski,
Poles and Jews: the Quest for Self-Determination, 1919-1934
," ''Binghamton Journal of History'', fall 2002, last accessed 2 June 2006.
to try to secure the border to the east in light of Poland's isolation and the build-up in both Communist Russia and Germany itself. In late 1938, German officials approached Poland with a suggestion to resettle European Jews to Africa, inspired by the British
Uganda Scheme The Uganda Scheme was a proposal presented at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1903 by Zionism founder Theodor Herzl to create a Jewish homeland in a portion of British East Africa. He presented it as a temporary refuge for Jews to ...
and the Franco-Polish
Madagascar Plan The Madagascar Plan was a plan to forcibly relocate the Jewish population of Europe to the island of Madagascar which was proposed by the Nazi German government. Franz Rademacher, head of the Jewish Department of the German Foreign Office, pr ...
, and Lipski as the Polish ambassador to Germany discussed the matter with
Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
. Yohanan Cohen describes Lipski's discussion with Hitler, which took place on 21 October 1938, as "characteristic of the kinds of things that had come to dominate the Polish establishment and public were comments by Jósef Lipski."Small Nations in Times of Crisis and Confrontation
Yohanan Cohen, page 70, State University of New York Press
Responding to Hitler's suggestions, Lipski said that "if he can find such a solution we will erect him a beautiful monument in Warsaw".
Timothy Snyder Timothy David Snyder (born August 18, 1969) is an American historian specializing in the modern history of Central and Eastern Europe. He is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute ...
stated that "historians of these negotiations often quote Lipski's remark that Poland would build a monument to Hitler if he found a way to resolve the Jewish question. With knowledge of the Holocaust we can find this remark even more revolting than it, in fact, was. Lipski was expressing the hope that despite the overwhelming difficulties, Germany could induce some maritime power to open some overseas colony to Polish Jews. It never occurred to him that Hitler's 'resolution' could be total mass murder." On 24 October 1938, Lipski met with German Foreign Minister
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
at Hitler's mountain retreat in
Berchtesgaden Berchtesgaden () is a municipality in the district Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, in southeastern Germany, near the border with Austria, south of Salzburg and southeast of Munich. It lies in the Berchtesgaden Alps, south of Berchtesgaden; th ...
. Ribbentrop demanded that Poland agree to the German annexation of the
Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
; Lipski refused. According to British historian A. J. P. Taylor, just days before the
German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
, Lipski refused to get out of bed, despite the urging of British diplomats, to meet with von Ribbentrop to hear Germany's latest demands of Poland,AJP Taylor, ''The Origins of the Second World War'', London: 1961 illustrating the Polish response to the aggressive German diplomacy. Under British pressure to negotiate a solution to the Danzig crisis, Lipski eventually phoned to ask for an interview with Ribbentrop on 31 August 1939 – the day before the invasion – but when learning that Lipski would only be present as an ambassador, rather than as a
plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ' ...
, the meeting was refused. According to Taylor, the Germans were aware of Lipski's limited negotiating authority. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Lipski fought as a volunteer ( Polish 1st Grenadiers Division in France) and later joined the General Staff of the
Polish Armed Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II. Polish forces were also raised within Soviet territories; t ...
. In 1951 Lipski moved to the USA and represented the
Polish Government in Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...
.


Statement by Vladimir Putin

In December 2019, during a speech given to high ranking Russian defense officials, Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
accused Lipski of antisemitism, calling him "That bastard! That anti-Semitic pig." The remarks were condemned by Polish government officials, and Poland's Chief Rabbi,
Michael Schudrich Michael Joseph Schudrich (born June 15, 1955) is an American rabbi and the current Chief Rabbi of Poland. He is the oldest of four children of Rabbi David Schudrich and Doris Goldfarb Schudrich. Biography Born in New York City, Schudrich lived in ...
, stated that "for us Jews, it is particularly outrageous for Putin to manipulate the tone of ipski's commentsmade in his conversation with Adolf Hitler in 1938. One shouldn't forget Poland supported the emigration of its 10 percent Jewish minority, but it did so partly in cooperation with the Zionist movement, to which it gave clandestine military support. At the same time, however, when the Third Reich expelled thousands of Polish Jews in 1938, Polish diplomatic services, including Ambassador Lipski personally, assisted them. Accusing ipskiof antisemitism on the basis of one sentence taken out of context is extremely irresponsible." Professor stated that " ipski'sextensive legacy... has no traces of antisemitic attitude. Lipski was not an antisemite."


See also

*
Polish corridor The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia ( Pomeranian Voivodeship, easter ...
* 1939 in Poland *
List of Poles This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited. Science Physics * Czesław Białobrzeski * Andrzej Buras * Georges Charp ...


Notes


References

*''Diplomat in Berlin, 1933-1939: Papers and Memoirs of Jozef Lipski, Ambassador of Poland'', by Jozef Lipski, edited by Waclaw Jedrzejewicz. Columbia University Press, New York 1968.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipski, Jozef 1894 births 1958 deaths Diplomats from Wrocław People from the Province of Silesia
Jozef Jozef or Józef is a Dutch, Breton, Polish and Slovak version of masculine given name Joseph. A selection of people with that name follows. For a comprehensive list see and .. * Józef Beck (1894–1944), Polish foreign minister in the 1930s ...
Ambassadors of Poland to Germany Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic Polish military personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta