Count Jan Szembek was a Polish diplomat, one of the most influential in late years of the Second Polish Republic, close associate of Józef Beck. Szembek was born in a szlachta family on July 11, 1881 in the village of Poręba near Alwernia. He graduated from the Vienna University, then took up the post of an Austrian government clerk in Bosnia (1905–1908). In 1908 he settled in Kraków
In 1919, after Poland regained independence (see: Partitions of Poland), Szembek was named chargé d'affaires and later, Polish ambassador in Budapest (1921–1924). Later, he was moved to Polish embassies in Brussels (1925) and Bucharest (1927), where he remained until 1932. After returning to Poland, he took up the job of deputy secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.
On September 17, 1939, he left Poland, together with other members of the government. His real estate, located in the village of Mloszowa (near Trzebinia), was ransacked by the Germans, who also burned Szembek's personal library. He died July 9, 1945 in Estoril near Lisbon. Szembek authored two books: