Tadeusz Brzeziński (February 21, 1896 – January 7, 1990) was a Polish diplomat and consular official. He was the father of Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser.

Life and career

Brzeziński was born in the town of Złoczów, in what was then the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(today Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine), the son of Zofia (Woroniecka) and Kazimierz Brzeziński. He received his university education in

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

(now Lviv), and in Vienna. As a volunteer in the Polish independence movement from 1918 to 1920, Brzeziński saw action in the Battle of Lwów during the Polish-Ukrainian War and against Soviet forces in the final Warsaw campaign of 1920. He entered the diplomatic-consular service of the new Polish Republic, serving in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, Germany; Lille, France; Leipzig, Germany; Kharkov, in the Soviet Ukraine (during the Great Purge on 1 November 1936 – 16 December 1937), and Montreal, where he lived after the Communist takeover in Poland after World War II. While in Leipzig, Germany, before World War II, Brzeziński became involved in efforts to rescue European Jews from Nazi concentration camps. In 1978, his efforts on behalf of the Jewish people were recognized by Prime Minister of Israel

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...

. Brzeziński was consul-general in Montreal from 1938 until the Communist takeover of Poland at the end of World War II. He served as president of the Canadian Polish Congress from 1952 to 1962, and in 1975 helped create the World Polish Congress. Until his retirement, he worked for the Quebec Ministry of Culture, setting up

French-language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

centres in small towns. Brzeziński died of pneumonia in Montreal at the age of 93. He was survived by his two sons: Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor; and Lech Brzeziński, an engineer also living in Montreal. His grandsons are foreign policy expert Ian Brzezinski, lawyer and US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski, and journalist Matthew Brzezinski. His granddaughter Mika Brzezinski is a political commentator and host of ''

Morning Joe ''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...

''.

References

Sources

Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, ''Dreams and Reality'', Toronto 1984, *

, ''Kanada, Kanada'', Warsaw 1986, *

, ''Untold Stories of Polish Heroes From World War II'', Hamilton Books , Rowman & Littlefield 2018,

External links

Photo of Zbigniew standing with Tadeusz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brzezinski, Tadeusz 1896 births 1990 deaths People from Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Polish Austro-Hungarians Polish emigrants to Canada Diplomats of the Second Polish Republic Deaths from pneumonia in Quebec Tadeusz

Life and career

See also

Archives

References

Sources

External links