Aleksander Skrzyński

Aleksander Skrzyński (born March 18, 1882, Zagórzany, Galicia, Austria-Hungary—died Sept. 25, 1931, Ostrów, Pol.) was a Polish statesman, foreign minister of Poland in different governments from 1922 to 1925, and premier from November 1925 to May 1926.

Skrzyński entered the diplomatic service in 1906 and, when the new Polish state was established, was appointed Polish minister plenipotentiary at Bucharest. In December 1922, after the murder of Gabriel Narutowicz, the first president of the republic, Skrzyński became minister of foreign affairs. When a cabinet of the right was formed in May 1923, Skrzyński lost office. In August 1924 he again became minister of foreign affairs. By a number of conventions, the regulation of the British and American debts, the concordat with the Vatican, and the rapprochement with Czechoslovakia, Skrzyński strengthened Poland’s international position, taking an active part in the League of Nations in elaborating the scheme for the Geneva Protocol and in securing settlement of the Danzig disputes in a manner favourable to Poland.

On Nov. 13, 1925, Skrzyński was entrusted with the formation of a new government, but it had fallen by the time of Józef Piłsudski’s coup d’état of May 1926.

In the following month, June 1926, Count Skrzyński took part in a duel after a political quarrel with Stanisław Maria, Count Szeptycki, former minister of war, but refused to fire after the general had missed him from 15 paces.