Janusz Radziwiłł (1880–1967)

Janusz Franciszek prince Radziwiłł (1880-1967) was a Polish nobleman and politician.

Member of the government of the Kingdom of Poland (1916–1918). A conservative politician in the Second Polish Republic, he was a supporter of Józef Piłsudski, member of his BBWR party, Sejm 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 in 1939 he was arrested by NKVD. 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 Nazi occupied Poland, where he tried to use his prestige to improve Nazi treatment of the Poles; he met with Hermann Göring (whom he knew from before the war) but his efforts were futile. He was briefly imprisoned by the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising 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. He retired from public life and would die in 1967.

Son of: Ferdynand Radziwiłł and Pelagia Sapieżanka. Spouse: Anna Lubomirska. Sons: Edmund Ferdynand Radziwill, Krystyna Maria Radziwill, Ludwik Ferdynand Radziwiłł, Stanisław Albrecht Radziwiłł

Ancestry