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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in the then

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. He was the son of Prince Ferdynand Radziwiłł (1834–1926) and Princess Pelagia Sapieha-Kodenska. His siblings were Michał Radziwiłł Rudy, Karol Ferdynand Radziwiłł, Małgorzata. His paternal grandparents were Prince Ferdynand Radziwiłł and Countess Leontyna von Clary und Aldringen. His maternal grandparents were Prince Léon Sapieha-Kodenski and Countess Johanna Tyszkiewicz. His great-grandfather was Prince Anton Radziwill and his great-grandmother was Princess Louise of Prussia (1770–1836).

Career

During the First World War, he was a member of the government of the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland (; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a monarchy in Central Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period from 1025 until 1385. Background The West Slavs, West Slavic tribe of Polans (western), Polans who lived in what i ...

and was a potential candidate for the Lithuanian crown, as he was closely related to the

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of monarch, monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or emperor, empress, and the term papal family describes the family of ...

and was a member of one of the most potent families of the ancient

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. He had a long career as 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 and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. 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, member of his BBWR coalition,

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

deputy from 1928 to 1935 and a member of the Polish Senate from 1935 to 1939. Despite being a supporter of the government, he was critical of sanacja's excesses (persecution of political opponents, censorship). In 1937 he joined the Camp of National Unity (OZON). After the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

in 1939, he was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

. Imprisoned in the infamous Lubyanka prison, he was personally interrogated by Lavrentiy Beria. 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

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occupied Poland, 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 Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

(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 (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

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 79 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 extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. She was the daughter of Prince Stanislaw Lubomirski 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 (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,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. * Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł (1914–1976), who was married three times, lastly to Caroline Lee Bouvier Canfield (1933-2019), sister of American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Radziwiłł died in his two-room apartment in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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

References

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