Personal life of Colonel Jozef Beck

Before entering the world stage, Jozef Beck managed to settle his most important personal affairs, namely, he divorced his first wife and married Jadwiga Salkowska (pictured), divorced from Major General Stanislav Burchardt-Bukacki.

Sometimes it happens that the decisive voice in the career of a politician belongs to his wife. In modern times, this is rumored about Billy and Hillary Clinton; a similar case took place in the history of the Second Polish Republic. Jozef Beck would never have had such a brilliant career if not for his second wife, Jadwiga.

In the Beck family

Contradictory information circulated about the origin of the future minister. It was said that he was a descendant of a Flemish sailor who entered the service of the Commonwealth at the end of the XNUMXth century, there was also information that the ancestor of the family was a native of German Holstein. Some have also claimed that the Beks came from Courland nobility, which, however, seems unlikely. It is also known that during the Second World War, Hans Frank was looking for the Jewish roots of the minister's family, but he failed to confirm this hypothesis.

The Beck family lived in Biala Podlaska for many years, belonging to the local civil society - my grandfather was a postmaster and my father was a lawyer. However, the future colonel was born in Warsaw (October 4, 1894), and baptized two years later in the Orthodox Church of St. Trinity in the basement. This was due to the fact that Jozef's mother, Bronislav, came from a Uniate family, and after the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church by the Russian authorities, the entire community was recognized as Orthodox. Jozef Beck was received into the Roman Catholic Church after the family settled in Limanovo, Galicia.

The future minister had a stormy youth. He attended a gymnasium in Limanovo, but problems with education meant that he had problems finishing it. He eventually received his high school diploma in Krakow, then studied in Lviv at the local technical university, and a year later moved to the Academy of Foreign Trade in Vienna. He did not graduate from this university due to the outbreak of the First World War. He then joined the Legions, beginning his artillery service as an artilleryman (private). He showed great ability; He quickly acquired the skills of an officer and ended the war with the rank of captain.

In 1920 he married Maria Slominskaya, and in September 1926 their son Andrzej was born. There is little information about the first Mrs. Beck, but it is known that she was an extremely beautiful woman. She was a great beauty, - recalled the diplomat Vaclav Zbyshevsky, - she had a charming smile, full of grace and charm, and beautiful legs; then for the first time in history there was a fashion for dresses to the knees - and today I remember that I could not take my eyes off her knees. In 1922-1923 Beck was the Polish military attache in Paris, and in 1926 he supported Jozef Piłsudski during the May coup. He even played one of the most important roles in the fighting, being the chief of staff of the rebels. Loyalty, military skills and merit were enough for a military career, and Beck's fate was determined by the fact that he met the right woman on his way.

Jadwiga Salkowska

The future minister, the only daughter of a successful lawyer Vaclav Salkovsky and Jadwiga Slavetskaya, was born in October 1896 in Lublin. The family home was wealthy; my father was a legal adviser to many sugar mills and the Cukrownictwa bank, he also advised local landowners. The girl graduated from the prestigious Aniela Warecka scholarship in Warsaw and was fluent in German, French and Italian. The good financial situation of the family allowed her to visit Italy and France every year (along with her mother).

During World War I, she met Captain Stanisław Burkhadt-Bukacki; this acquaintance ended with a wedding. After the war, the couple settled in Modlin, where Bukatsky became (already in the rank of lieutenant colonel) the commander of the 8th Infantry Division. Two years after the end of the war, their only daughter, Joanna, was born there.

The marriage, however, got worse and worse, and finally they both decided to part ways. The decision was facilitated by the fact that each of them was already planning a future with a different partner. In the case of Jadwiga, it was Józef Beck, and the goodwill of several people was required to solve a difficult situation. The fastest (and cheapest) practice was a change of religion - the transition to one of the Protestant denominations. The parting of both couples went smoothly, it did not hurt Bukatsky's good relations (he achieved the rank of general) with Beck. No wonder people joked on the street in Warsaw:

The officer asks the second officer, "Where are you going to spend Christmas?" Answer: In the family. Are you in a big group? "Well, my wife will be there, my wife's fiancee, my fiancee, her husband and my wife's fiancee's wife." This unusual situation once took French Foreign Minister Jean Barthou by surprise. Becky was given a breakfast in his honor, and Burkhadt-Bukatsky was also among the invited guests. The French ambassador Jules Laroche did not have time to warn his boss about the specific marital status of the owners, and the politician entered into a conversation with Jadwiga about men's and women's affairs:

Madame Bekova, Laroche recalled, argued that marital relations could be bad, which, however, did not prevent them from maintaining friendly relations after the break. In proof, she stated that at the same table was her ex-husband, whom she hated as such, but whom she still liked very much as a person.

The French thought that the hostess was joking, but when the daughter of Mrs. Bekova appeared at the table, Jadwiga ordered her to kiss her father. And, to Bart's horror, the girl "threw herself into the general's arms." Mary also remarried; she used her second husband's surname (Yanishevskaya). After the outbreak of the war, she emigrated with her son to the West. Andrzej Beck fought in the ranks of the Polish armed forces, and then settled in the United States with his mother. He graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey, worked as an engineer, founded his own company. Actively worked in organizations of the Polish diaspora, was vice president and president of the Jozef Pilsudski Institute in New York. He died in 2011; the date of his mother's death remains unknown.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Jozef Beck interrupted his studies and joined the Polish legions. He was appointed

to the artillery of the 1916th brigade. Taking part in the fighting, he distinguished himself among others during actions on the Russian front in the battle of Kostyukhnovka in July XNUMX, during which he was wounded.

Mr. Minister of Foreign Affairs

The new Mrs. Beck was an ambitious person, she probably had the greatest ambitions of all the wives of high-ranking dignitaries (not counting the partner of Eduard Smigly-Rydz). She was not satisfied with the career of an officer's wife - after all, her first husband was of a fairly high rank. Her dream was to travel, to get acquainted with the elegant world, but she did not want to leave Poland forever. She was not interested in a diplomatic position; she believed that her husband could make a career in the Foreign Office. And she was very concerned about the good image of her husband. At the time when Beck, Laroche recalled, was Deputy Secretary of State in the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, it was noticed that he appeared at parties in a tailcoat, and not in a uniform. Lessons were immediately learned from this. Even more significant was the fact that Mrs. Bekova received from him a promise to refrain from the abuse of alcohol.

Jadwiga knew very well that alcohol ruined many careers, and among Piłsudski's people there were many people with similar inclinations. And she was in complete control of the situation. Laroche recalled how, during a dinner at the Romanian embassy, ​​Mrs. Beck took a glass of champagne from her husband, saying: “Enough is enough.

Jadwiga's ambitions were widely known, they even became the subject of a cabaret sketch by Marian Hemar - "You must be a minister." It was a story, - Mira Ziminskaya-Sigienskaya recalled, - about a lady who wanted to become a minister. And she told her master, a dignitary, what to do, what to buy, what to arrange, what gift to give to the lady so that she would become a minister. This gentleman explains: I will stay in my current place, we sit quietly, we live well - are you bad? And she went on saying, "You must become a minister, you must become a minister." I acted out this sketch: I got dressed, put on perfume and made it clear that I would arrange a premiere, that my master would be a minister, because he should be a minister.

Taking part in the battles, he distinguished himself among others during operations on the Russian front in the battle of Kostyukhnovka in July 1916, during which he was wounded.

Then Mrs. Bekkova, whom I loved very much, because she was a sweet, modest person - in the life of a minister I did not see rich jewelry, she always wore only beautiful silver - so Mrs. Bekkova said: “Hey Mira, I know, I know who you were thinking about, I know, I know who you were thinking about ... ".

Jozef Beck successfully moved up the career ladder. He became Deputy Prime Minister and then Deputy Foreign Minister. His wife's goal was to become a minister for him; She knew that his boss, August Zaleski, was not Piłsudski's man, and the marshal had to put a trusted person in charge of a key ministry. The entry at the head of Polish diplomacy guaranteed the Becks a permanent stay in Warsaw with maximum opportunities to travel around the world. And in a very elegant world.

Secretary's indiscretion

An interesting material is the memoirs of Pavel Starzhevsky (“Trzy lata z Beck”), the personal secretary of the minister in 1936-1939. The author, of course, focused on the political activities of Beck, but he gave a number of episodes that shed interesting light on his wife, and especially on the relationship between both of them.

Starzhevsky absolutely liked the director, but he also saw his shortcomings. He appreciated his "great personal charm", "great precision of mind", and "an ever-burning inner fire" with an appearance of perfect composure. Beck had an excellent appearance - tall, handsome, he looked good both in a tailcoat and in a uniform. However, the head of Polish diplomacy had serious shortcomings: he hated bureaucracy and did not want to deal with "paperwork". He relied on his "phenomenal memory" and never had any notes on his desk. The minister's office in the Brühl Palace testified to the tenant - it was painted in steel tones, the walls were decorated with only two portraits (Pilsudski and Stefan Batory). The rest of the equipment is reduced to the bare necessities: a desk (always empty, of course), a sofa, and a few armchairs. In addition, the decoration of the palace after the reconstruction of 1937 caused great controversy:

While the appearance of the palace, Starzhevsky recalled, its style and former beauty was perfectly preserved, which was greatly facilitated by the receipt of original plans from Dresden, its interior decoration did not harmonize with its appearance. It never ceases to offend me; the many mirrors, the too filigree columns, the variety of marble used there gave the impression of a flourishing financial institution, or, as one of the foreign diplomats more accurately put it: a bathhouse in Czechoslovakia.

Since November 1918 in the Polish Army. As head of a horse battery, he fought in the Ukrainian army until February 1919. Participated in military courses at the School of the General Staff in Warsaw from June to November 1919. In 1920 he became head of a department in the Second Department of the General Staff of the Polish Army. In 1922-1923 he was a military attaché in Paris and Brussels.

Anyway, the opening of the building was very unfortunate. Before the official visit of the King of Romania, Charles II, it was decided to organize a dress rehearsal. A gala dinner was held in honor of the employees of the minister and the author of the reconstruction of the palace, the architect Bogdan Pnevsky. The event ended with a medical intervention.

In response to Bek's health, Pniewski wanted, following the example of Jerzy Lubomirski from The Flood, to break a crystal goblet on his own head. However, this failed, and the goblet spilled when it was thrown onto the marble floor, and the wounded Pnevsky had to call an ambulance.

And how can one not believe in signs and predictions? The Brühl Palace existed for only a few more years, and after the Warsaw Uprising it was so thoroughly blown up that today there is no trace of this beautiful building ...

Starzhevsky also did not hide the director's addiction to alcohol. He mentioned that in Geneva, after a full day's work, Beck liked to spend many hours at the delegation's headquarters, drinking red wine in the company of young people. The men were accompanied by ladies - the wives of employees of the Polish enterprise, and the colonel said with a smile that he had never abstained.

A much worse impression was made by Titus Komarnicki, a long-term representative of Poland in the League of Nations. Beck first took his wife to Geneva (making sure she was very bored there); over time, for "political" reasons, he began to come alone. After discussion, he tasted his favorite whiskey away from his wife's watchful eyes. Komarnicki complained that he had to listen to Beck's endless monologue about his concept of restructuring European politics until morning.

In 1925 he graduated from the Military Academy in Warsaw. During the May 1926 coup, he supported Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, being the chief of staff of his main forces, the Operational Group of General Gustav Orlicz-Drescher. Soon after the coup - in June 1926 - he became the head of the cabinet of Minister of War J. Pilsudski.

It is possible that his colleagues and superiors from state institutions helped get rid of the minister's wife. It's hard not to smile when Yadviga remembers in all seriousness:

It used to be like this: Prime Minister Slavek calls me, who wants to see me on a very important matter and in secret from my husband. I report to him. He has information from our Ministry of the Interior, from the Swiss police, that there are legitimate concerns about an attack on Minister Beck. When he stays at the hotel, driving with me is very difficult. The Swiss ask him to live in the Polish Permanent Mission. There is not enough space, so it is supposed to go alone.

- How do you imagine it? Departure tomorrow morning, everything is ready. What should I do to suddenly stop walking?

- Do what you want. He must drive alone and cannot know that I have been talking to you.

Slavek was no exception; Janusz Yendzheevich behaved in exactly the same way. Again there were fears about the possibility of an attack on the minister, and Jozef had to go to Geneva alone. And it is known that male solidarity can sometimes work wonders...

The minister liked to get out of Jadwiga's eyes, and then he behaved like a naughty student. Of course, he had to be sure that he could remain incognito. And such cases were rare, but they were. After a stay in Italy (without his wife), he chose the air route instead of returning home by train. The saved time was spent in Vienna. Earlier, he sent a trusted person there to prepare housing on the Danube. The Minister was accompanied by Starzhevsky, and his description is very interesting.

First, the gentlemen went to the opera for a performance of The Knight of the Silver Rose by Richard Strauss. Beck, however, was not going to spend the whole evening in such a noble place, because he had enough of such entertainment every day. During the break, the gentlemen parted, went to some country tavern, not sparing themselves with alcoholic drinks and encouraging the local musical group to play. Only Levitsky, who acted as the minister's bodyguard, escaped.

What happened next was even more interesting. I remember, Starzewski recalled, in some nightclub on the Wallfischgasse where we landed, Commissar Levitsky sat at a nearby table and sipped a glass of diluent for many hours. Beck was overjoyed, repeating from time to time: "What a pleasure not to be a minister." The sun had already risen long ago when we returned to the hotel and slept off, as in the best university times, the night spent on the Danube.

The surprises didn't end there. When Starzewski fell asleep after a night out, the phone woke him up. Most wives show an amazing need to communicate with their husbands in the most inopportune situations. And Jadwiga was no exception:

Ms. Bekova called and wanted to speak with the minister. He slept like the dead in the next room. It was very difficult for me to explain that he was not in the hotel, which was not believed, but I was not reproached when I assured that everything was in order. Back in Warsaw, Beck spoke in detail about the "Knight of the Silver Rose" in further events.

after the opera, he did not enter.

Jadwiga courted her husband not only because of his career. Jozef was not in the best of health and suffered from serious illnesses during the autumn-winter season. He had a grueling lifestyle, often worked after hours, and always had to be available. Over time, it turned out that the minister had tuberculosis, which caused his death during internment in Romania at the age of only 50 years.

Jadwiga, however, turned a blind eye to her husband's other preferences. The colonel liked to look into the casino, but he was not a player:

Beck liked in the evenings - as Starzhevsky described the minister's stay in Cannes - to briefly go to the local casino. Or rather, playing with combinations of numbers and a whirlwind of roulette, he rarely played himself, but he was eager to see how luck accompanies others.

He definitely preferred bridge and, like many others, was an avid fan of the game. He devoted a lot of time to his favorite pastime, it was necessary to observe only one condition - the right partners. In 1932, the diplomat Alfred Vysotsky described with horror a trip with Beck to Pikelishki, where they were supposed to report to Piłsudski on important foreign policy issues:

In Beck's cabin, I found the minister's right hand, Major Sokolovsky and Ryszard Ordynsky. When the Minister was on his way to an important political talk, I did not expect to meet Reinhard, the theater and film director, the favorite of all actresses. It seems that the Minister needed it for the bridge they were going to land on, preventing me from discussing the content of my report, which I

obey the marshal.

But is there a surprise for the minister? Even President Wojciechowski, during one of his trips around the country, refused to go to the local nobility at some railway station, because he was betting on a slam (it was officially announced that he was unwell and sleeping). During military maneuvers, only good players were captured by those who did not know how to play bridge. And even Valery Slavek, who was considered an outstanding loner, also appeared at Beck's bridge evenings. Józef Beck was also the last of the prominent Pilsudski people with whom Slavek spoke before his death. Gentlemen didn't play bridge back then, and a few days later the former prime minister committed suicide.

From August to December 1930, Józef Beck was Deputy Prime Minister in Piłsudski's government. In December of that year, he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. From November 1932 until the end of September 1939 he was the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replacing August Zaleski. He also served in the Senate from 1935-1939.

Daily life of the Beckov family

The minister and his wife had the right to a service apartment and initially lived in the Rachinsky Palace on the Krakow suburb. They were large and quiet rooms, especially suited to Joseph, who had a habit of thinking on his feet. The living room was so large that the Minister "could walk freely" and then sit by the fireplace, which he liked very much. The situation changed after the reconstruction of the Brühl Palace. The Beks lived in the annexed part of the palace, where the rooms were small, but on the whole resembled a modern villa of a rich man.

Warsaw industrialist.

The Minister and his wife had a number of representative duties at home and abroad. These included participation in various types of official receptions, receptions and receptions, presence at vernissages and academies. Jadwiga made no secret of the fact that she found some of these duties extremely onerous:

I did not like banquets - not at home, not at anyone's - with pre-announced dances. Because of my husband's position, I had to be danced by worse dancers than senior dignitaries. They were out of breath, they were tired, it did not give them pleasure. Me too. When the time finally came for good dancers, younger and happier... I was already so tired and bored that I just dreamed of returning home.

Beck was distinguished by an extraordinary attachment to Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. Vladislav Pobog-Malinovsky wrote: He was the marshal of everything for Beck - the source of all rights, worldview, even religion. There was not, and could not be, any discussion of the cases in which the marshal had ever pronounced his verdict.

However, everyone agreed that Jadwiga perfectly fulfills his duties. She did her best to make everything as good as possible, although in some respects she could not reach her husband's predecessor:

The minister's kitchen, Laroche lamented, did not have the reputation it had in the days of Zaleski, who was a gourmet, but the feasts were impeccable, and Mrs. Betzkow spared no trouble.

Laroche, as befits a Frenchman, complained about the kitchen - believing that they cook well only in his homeland. But (surprisingly) Starzhevsky also expressed some reservations, saying that turkey with blueberries is served too often at ministerial receptions - I'm too lenient to serve it often. But such Goering was very fond of turkey; another thing is that the Marshal of the Reich had a long list of favorite dishes, and the main condition was an adequate abundance of dishes ...

The surviving accounts emphasize the intellect of Jadwiga, who devoted herself almost entirely to the representational side of her husband's life. From the bottom of her heart, Laroche continued, she tried to promote the prestige of her husband and, admittedly, of her country.

And she had many options for that; Patriotism and a sense of Jadwiga's mission forced her to actively participate in all types of social activities. It supported artistic events of a specifically Polish nature, such as exhibitions of folk art or embroidery, concerts and the promotion of folklore.

Promotion of Polish goods was sometimes associated with problems - as in the case of Jadwiga's Polish silk dress from Milanowek. During a conversation with Princess Olga, the wife of the regent of Yugoslavia, the minister suddenly felt that something bad was happening to her outfit:

… I had a new dress in matte shimmering silk from Milanówek. It never occurred to me to land in Warsaw. The model was made obliquely. Princess Olga greeted me in her private drawing room, furnished lightly and warmly, covered with light-coloured chintz with flowers. Low, soft sofas and armchairs. I sit down. The chair swallowed me up. What will I do, the most delicate movement, I'm not made of wood, the dress rises higher and I look at my knees. We are talking. I struggle with the dress carefully and to no avail. Sun-drenched living room, flowers, a charming lady is talking, and this damn slope diverts my attention. This time the silk propaganda from Milanovek took its toll on me.

In addition to obligatory events for high-ranking officials who came to Warsaw, the Bekovites sometimes arranged ordinary social meetings in the circle of the diplomatic corps. Jadwiga recalled that the apple of her eye was the beautiful Swedish deputy Bohemann and his beautiful wife. One day she cooked dinner for them, also inviting a representative of Romania, whose husband also dazzled with his beauty. In addition, the dinner was attended by Poles, selected for ... the beauty of their wives. Such an evening far from the usual strict meetings with music, dancing and without “serious conversations” was a form of relaxation for the participants. And it happened that a technical failure could give additional stress.

Dinner for the new Swiss MEP. Fifteen minutes before the deadline, power goes out in the entire Rachinsky Palace. Candles are placed on rape. There are many of them, but the salons are huge. Atmospheric twilight everywhere. The renovation is expected to take a long time. You must pretend that the candles that cast mysterious shadows and stearin around are not an accident, but a destined decoration. Luckily, the new MP is now eighteen... and appreciates the beauty of low light. The younger ladies were probably angry that they would not see the details of their toilets and consider the evening wasted. Well, after dinner the lights came on.

A similar opinion was expressed to Beck by his secretary Pavel Starzheniaski, noting the deep patriotism of the minister: His ardent love for Poland and absolute devotion to Piłsudski - "the greatest love of my life" - and only to his memory and "recommendations" - were among Beck's most important traits.

Another problem was that German and Soviet diplomats were not popular with the Poles. Apparently, the ladies refused to dance with "Schwab" or "Bachelor Party", they did not even want to have a conversation. Bekova was saved by the wives of junior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who always willingly and with a smile carried out her orders. With the Italians, the situation was the opposite, because the ladies besieged them and it was difficult to persuade the guests to talk to the men.

One of the most burdensome duties of the ministerial couple was the presence at the then fashionable tea parties. The meetings took place between 17 and 19 pm and were called "queers" in English. The Becks couldn't ignore them, they had to show up in the company.

Seven days a week, Sunday is not allowed, sometimes even Saturday, - recalled Yadviga. - The diplomatic corps and the "exit" Warsaw numbered hundreds of people. Teas could be served once a month, but then - without complex bookkeeping - it would be impossible to visit them. You have to find yourself in your head or in the calendar: where and in whose place is the second Tuesday after the fifteenth, the first Friday after the seventh. In any case, there will be few days and several “teas” every day.

Of course, with a busy calendar, afternoon tea was a chore. A waste of time, “no fun”, just “torment”. And in general, how to relate to fleeting visits, in a constant rush to catch the next afternoon snack?

You walk in, you fall out, a smile here, a word there, a heartfelt gesture or just a long look into crowded salons and - fortunately - there is usually no time and hands to freshen up with tea. Because you only have two hands. Usually one holds a cigarette and the other greets you. Can't smoke for a while. He greets himself constantly with handshakes, starting to juggle: a cup of boiling water, a saucer, a teaspoon, a plate with something, a fork, often a glass. Crowd, heat and chatter, or rather throwing sentences into space.

There was and, probably, there is an exquisite custom to enter the living room in a fur coat or overcoat. Maybe it was invented to simplify the quick exit? In rooms heated by people and fuel, flushed ladies with burning noses chirp casually. There was also a fashion show, meticulously checking who had a new hat, fur, coat.

Is that why the ladies entered the rooms in furs? The gentlemen took off their coats, obviously not wanting to show their new coats. Jadwiga Beck, on the contrary, learned that some ladies know how to come at five o'clock and treat them until they die. Many Warsaw women liked this way of life.

At afternoon meetings, in addition to tea (often with rum), biscuits and sandwiches were served, and some of the guests stayed for lunch. It was served lavishly, often turning the meeting into a dance night. It became a tradition,” Jadwiga Beck recalled, “after my 5 × 7 parties, I stopped several people for the evening. Sometimes foreigners too. (…) After dinner we put on records and danced a little. There was no lemonade for dinner and we were all happy. Caballero [the Argentine envoy - footnote S.K.] put on a gloomy hanging tango and announced that he would show - solo - how they dance in different countries. We screamed with laughter. Until the day I die, I will not forget how, after shouting "en Pologne", he began the tango with "bang", cabbage rolls, but with a tragic face. An embrace of a non-existent partner is announced. If that were the case, she would be dancing with a broken spine.

The Argentine envoy had an extraordinary sense of humor, far removed from the harsh world of diplomacy. When he showed up at the Warsaw train station to say goodbye to Laroche, he was the only one who didn't bring flowers with him. In return, he presented a diplomat from the Seine with a wicker basket for flowers, of which there were a huge number. On another occasion, he decided to surprise his Warsaw friends. Invited to some kind of family celebration, he bought gifts for the children of the owners and entered the apartment, giving the maid outerwear.

Jadwiga Beck participated in the most important diplomatic meetings and events. She was also the protagonist of many anecdotes and gaffes, which she described in part in her autobiography. Organizer of exhibitions of translations of Polish literature into foreign languages, for which she was awarded the Silver Academy of Literature by the Academy of Literature.

[Then] he put on his cotillon hat, hung up the drum, put a pipe in his mouth. Knowing the layout of the apartment, he crawled on all fours, bouncing and honking, into the dining room. The townspeople sat down at the table, and instead of the expected laughter, conversations broke off and silence fell. The fearless Argentine flew around the table on all fours, honking and drumming insistently. Finally, he was surprised by the continued silence and immobility of those present. He stood up, saw many frightened faces, but belonging to people he did not know. He just made a mistake with the floors.

Journey, journey

Jadwiga Beck was a person created for a representative lifestyle - her knowledge of languages, manners and appearance predisposed her to this. In addition, she had the right traits of character, was prudent and did not interfere in any way in foreign affairs. Diplomatic protocol required her to participate in her husband's foreign visits, which she had always wanted. And for purely feminine reasons, she did not like the lonely wanderings of her husband, as various temptations awaited diplomats.

This is a country of very beautiful women, - Starzewski described during his official visit to Romania, - with a wide variety of types. At breakfast or dinner, people sat next to luxurious dark-haired and dark-eyed beauties or blonde blondes with Greek profiles. The mood was relaxed, the ladies spoke excellent French, and nothing human was alien to them.

Although Mrs. Beck was a very nice person in private and did not like to cause unnecessary trouble, during official visits she managed to embarrass herself for serving in Polish institutions. But then the prestige of the state (as well as her husband's) was at stake, and she had no doubts in such situations. Everything must be in perfect order and function flawlessly.

Sometimes, however, the situation was unbearable for her. After all, she was a woman, and a very elegant woman who needed the right environment. And a sophisticated lady will not suddenly jump out of bed in the morning and look straight in a quarter of an hour!

The Italian border passed at night - this is how Beck's official visit to Italy in March 1938 was described. - At dawn - literally - Mestre. I sleep. I am awakened by a frightened maid that it is only a quarter of an hour before the train and "the minister asks you to immediately go into the living room." What's happened? The Podestà (Mayor) of Venice was instructed to personally present flowers to me, along with Mussolini's welcome ticket. At dawn...they are crazy! I have to get dressed, do my hair, make up, talk to Podesta, all in fifteen minutes! I don't have time and don't think about getting up. I return the maid I feel so sorry for

but I have a crazy migraine.

Later, Beck had a grudge against his wife - apparently, he ran out of imagination. What woman, suddenly awake, could prepare herself at such a pace? And the lady of the diplomat representing her country? The migraine remained, a fine excuse, and diplomacy was an elegant global cultivation tradition. After all, migraines were par for the course in such an environment.

One of the humorous accents of the stay on the Tiber was the problems with the modern equipment of Villa Madama, where the Polish delegation stayed. Preparations for the official banquet at the Polish embassy were not easy at all, and the minister lost his nerve a little.

I invite you to take a bath. My clever Zosya embarrassedly says that she has been looking for a long time and cannot find taps in the bathroom. Which? I enter a Chinese pagoda with the fur of a huge polar bear on the floor. Bathtubs, no traces and nothing like a bathroom. The room raises a painted carved tabletop, there is a bathtub, no taps. Paintings, sculptures, intricate lanterns, strange chests, chests are teeming with indignant dragons, even on mirrors, but there are no taps. What the hell? We search, we grope, we move everything. How to wash?

The local service explained the problem. There were cranes, of course, but in a hidden compartment, where you had to get to by pressing some invisible buttons. Beck's bathroom no longer caused such problems, although it looked no less original. It simply resembled the interior of a large ancient tomb, with a sarcophagus in the tub.

As foreign minister, Józef Beck remained true to Marshal Piłsudski's conviction that Poland should maintain a balance in relations with Moscow and Berlin. Like him, he was opposed to the participation of the WP in collective agreements, which, in his opinion, limited the freedom of Polish politics.

However, the real adventure was a visit to Moscow in February 1934. Poland warmed up in relations with its dangerous neighbor; two years earlier, the Polish-Soviet non-aggression pact had been initialed. Another thing is that the official visit of the head of our diplomacy to the Kremlin was a complete novelty in mutual contacts, and for Yadwiga it was a journey into the unknown, into a world completely alien to her.

On the Soviet side, at Negoreloye, we boarded a broad gauge train. Old wagons are very comfortable, with already swung springs. Before that war, Salonka belonged to some grand duke. Its interior was in the strictly seasoned style of the most terrible modernist style. Velvet flowed down the walls and covered the furniture. Everywhere there is gilded wood and metal carving, interwoven into convulsive weaves of stylized leaves, flowers and vines. Such were the decorations of the ugly whole, but the beds were very comfortable, full of duvets and down and thin underwear. The large sleeping compartments have old-fashioned wash basins. Porcelain is beautiful as a view - dotted with patterns, gilding, intricate monograms and huge crowns on each item. Various basins, jugs, soap dishes, etc.

The Soviet train service kept a state secret to the point of absurdity. It even happened that the cook refused to give Mrs. Beck a recipe for biscuits served with tea! And it was a cookie that her grandmother made, the composition and baking rules have long been forgotten.

Of course, during the trip, the members of the Polish delegation did not try to talk about serious topics. It was clear to all members of the expedition that the car was full of listening devices. However, it was a surprise to see several Bolshevik dignitaries - they all spoke perfect French.

The meeting at the train station in Moscow was interesting, especially the behavior of Karol Radek, who Becks knew from his visits to Poland:

We get out of the red-hot car, which is immediately strongly clamped by frost, and begin greetings. Dignitaries headed by People's Commissar Litvinov. Long boots, furs, papachos. A group of ladies cowered in colorful knitted hats, scarves and gloves. I feel like a European... I have a warm, leathery and elegant - but a hat. The scarf is also not made of yarn, for sure. I formulate the greeting and the crazy joy of my arrival in French, and I try to memorize it in Russian as well. Suddenly - like the incarnation of the devil - Radek whispers loudly in my ear:

- I started you gawaritie in French! We are all Polish Jews!

Jozef Beck for many years sought an agreement with London, which agreed to it only in March-April 1939, when it became obvious that Berlin was irrevocably moving towards war. The alliance with Poland was calculated on the intentions of British politicians to stop Hitler. Pictured: Beck's visit to London, April 4, 1939.

Jadwiga's memories of Moscow sometimes resembled a typical propaganda story. Her description of the prevailing intimidation was probably true, although she could have added this later, already knowing the history of Stalin's purges. However, information about the starving Soviet dignitaries is more likely propaganda. Apparently, Soviet dignitaries at the evenings in the Polish mission behaved as if they had not eaten anything a week ago:

When tables are literally left with bones on plates, cake wrappers and a collection of empty bottles, the guests disperse. Nowhere are buffets as popular as in Moscow, and no one needs to be invited to eat. It is always calculated as triple the number of invitees, but this is usually not enough. Hungry people - even dignitaries.

The aim of his policy was to keep the peace long enough for Poland to prepare for war. Moreover, he wanted to increase the subjectivity of the country in the international system of that time. He was well aware of the change in the economic situation in the world not in favor of Poland.

The Soviet people may not have good taste, they may have bad manners, but their dignitaries are not starving. Even Jadwiga liked the breakfast served by the Soviet generals, where she sat next to Voroshilov, whom she considered a communist of flesh and blood, an idealist and an idealist in his own way. The reception was far from diplomatic protocol: there was noise, loud laughter, the mood was cordial, carefree ... And how could it be otherwise, because for an evening at the opera, where the diplomatic corps was dressed in accordance with the requirements of etiquette, Soviet dignitaries came in jackets, and most of them are at the top?

However, a well-aimed observation was her account of the Moscow adventures of her servant husband. This man wandered around the city alone, no one was particularly interested in him, so he made acquaintance with a local laundress.

He spoke Russian, visited her and learned a lot. Upon my return, I heard him tell our service that if he were the Minister of the Interior in Poland, instead of arresting him, he would send all Polish communists to Russia. They will return, in his words, forever cured of communism. And he was probably right...

The last pre-war French ambassador to Warsaw, Léon Noël, did not skimp on Beck's criticism.

praise - when he wrote that the minister was very smart, he skillfully and extremely quickly mastered the concepts with which he came into contact. He had an excellent memory, he did not need the slightest note to remember the information given to him or the text presented ... [he had] a thought, always alert and lively, quick wit, resourcefulness, great self-control, deeply instilled prudence, love for it; "State nerve", as Richelieu called it, and consistency in actions ... He was a dangerous partner.

Opinions

Various stories circulated about Jadwiga Beck; She was considered a snob, it was alleged that the position and position of her husband turned her head. Estimates varied considerably and, as a rule, depended on the position of the writer. The Minister could not be missing in the memoirs of Ziminskaya, Krzhivitskaya, Pretender, she also appears in Nalkowska's Diaries.

Irena Krzhivitskaya admitted that Jadwiga and her husband rendered her invaluable services. She was pursued by a suitor, perhaps not quite mentally balanced. In addition to malicious phone calls (for example, to the Warsaw Zoo about the Krzywicki family having a monkey to be taken away), he went so far as to threaten Irena's son. And although his personal data was well known to Krzhivitskaya, the police did not take note of the case - she was even refused to wiretap her phone. And then Krzywicka met Beck and his wife at the Boy's Saturday tea.

Talking about all this with the Boys, I did not give my name, but complained that they did not want to listen to me. After a while, the conversation took a different direction, because I also wanted to get away from this nightmare. The next day, a well-dressed officer approached me and, on behalf of the "minister", handed me a bouquet of roses and a huge box of chocolates, after which he politely asked me to report everything to him. First of all, he asked if I wanted the orderly to walk with Peter from now on. I refused with a laugh.

I again asked to be overheard, and again there was no answer. The officer did not ask me if I had any suspicions, and after a few minutes of conversation he saluted and left. From that moment, telephone blackmail ended once and for all.

Jadwiga Beck always cared about her husband's good opinion, and helping a popular journalist could only bring profit. In addition, government officials have always tried to maintain good relations with the creative community. Or maybe Jadwiga, as a mother, understood Krzywicka's position?

Zofia Nałkowska (as befits her) paid close attention to Jadwiga's appearance. After a party at the Rachinsky Palace, she noted that the minister was slender, aesthetic and very active, and Bekka considered him an ideal assistant. This is an interesting observation, as the head of Polish diplomacy generally enjoyed the best opinion. Although Nałkowska regularly attended tea parties or dinners at the Becks (in her capacity as vice-president of the Polish Academy of Literature), she could not hide her distaste when that honorary institution awarded the minister with the Silver Laurel. Officially, Jadwiga received an award for outstanding organizational work in the field of fiction, but art institutions are supported by state subsidies, and such gestures towards rulers are in the order of things.

When evaluating Beck's policy in the autumn of 1938, one must keep in mind those realities: Germany, having territorial and political claims against its neighbors, wanted to realize them at the lowest cost - that is, with the consent of the great powers, France, England and Italy. This was achieved against Czechoslovakia in October 1938 in Munich.

The minister was often considered a man above the crowd of mere mortals. Jadwiga's behavior in Jurata, where she and her husband spent several summer weeks each year, drew particularly vicious comments. The minister was often called to Warsaw, but his wife made full use of the resort's facilities. Magdalena the Pretender saw her regularly (the Kosakovs had a dacha in Jurata) when she walked in a dizzying beach costume surrounded by her yard, that is, her daughter, bona and two wild thoroughbred dogs. Apparently, she even once hosted a dog party to which she invited her friends with pets decorated with big bows. A white tablecloth was spread on the floor of the villa, and the favorite delicacies of purebred mutts were placed in bowls on it. There were even bananas, chocolate and dates.

On May 5, 1939, Minister Józef Beck made a famous speech in the Sejm in response to the termination of the German-Polish non-aggression pact by Adolf Hitler. The speech elicited prolonged applause from the deputies. Polish society also received it with enthusiasm.

The Pretender wrote her memoirs at the beginning of the XNUMXs, in the Stalin era, but their authenticity cannot be ruled out. The Becks were gradually losing touch with reality; their constant presence in the world of diplomacy did not serve their self-esteem well. Reading Jadwiga's memoirs, it's hard not to notice the suggestion that both of them were Piłsudski's biggest favorites. In this respect he was not alone; the figure of the commander is projected onto his contemporaries. After all, even Henryk Jablonski, chairman of the Council of State during the Polish People's Republic, must always have been proud of a personal conversation with Piłsudski. And, apparently, as a young student, running along the corridor of the Military History Institute, he stumbled upon an old man who grunted at him: beware, you bastard! It was Piłsudski, and that was the whole conversation...

Romanian tragedy

Jozef Beck and his wife left Warsaw in early September. The evacuees with the government moved east, but not very flattering information has been preserved about their behavior in the early days of the war.

Looking out the window, - recalled Irena Krzhivitskaya, who lived near their apartment at that time, - I also saw some rather scandalous things. At the very beginning, a row of trucks in front of Beck's villa and soldiers are carrying sheets, some kind of carpets and curtains. These trucks left, loaded, I don’t know where and for what, apparently, in the footsteps of Becky.

Was it true? It was said that the minister took out of Warsaw a huge amount of gold sewn into a flight suit. However, taking into account the further fate of the Beks and especially Jadwiga, it seems doubtful. It certainly didn't take away the same wealth as Martha Thomas-Zaleska, Smigly's partner. Zaleska lived in luxury on the Riviera for more than ten years, she also sold national souvenirs (including the coronation saber of Augustus II). Another thing is that Ms. Zaleska was killed in 1951 and Ms. Bekova died in the XNUMXs, and any financial resource has limits. Or maybe, in the turmoil of the war, the valuables taken out of Warsaw were lost somewhere? We will probably never explain this again, and it is possible that Krzywicka's story is a fabrication. However, it is known that the Bekovs in Romania were in a terrible financial situation.

Another thing is that if the war had not begun, the relationship between Jadwiga and Martha Thomas-Zaleska could have developed in an interesting way. Śmigły was expected to become President of the Republic of Poland in 1940, and Martha would become the First Lady of the Republic of Poland.

And she was a person of a difficult nature, and Jadwiga clearly claimed the role of number one among the wives of Polish politicians. A confrontation between the two ladies would be rather inevitable...

In mid-September, the Polish authorities found themselves in Kuty on the border with Romania. And that's where the news of the Soviet invasion came from; the war ended, a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions began. It was decided to leave the country and continue the struggle in exile. Despite previous agreements with the government of Bucharest, the Romanian authorities interned Polish dignitaries. Western allies did not protest - they were comfortable; even then, cooperation with politicians from the camp hostile to the Sanation movement was planned.

Bolesław Wieniawa-Dlugoszowski was not allowed to become President Mościcki's successor. In the end, Vladislav Rachkevich took over the duties of the head of state - on September 30, 1939, General Felician Slavoj-Skladkovsky resigned the cabinet of ministers assembled in Stanich-Moldovana. Józef Beck became a private individual.

Mr. and Mrs. Beckov (with daughter Jadwiga) were interned in Brasov; there the former minister was allowed to visit (under guard) a dentist in Bucharest. At the beginning of the summer they were transferred to Dobroseti on Lake Sangov near Bucharest. Initially, the former minister was not even allowed to leave the small villa they were living in. Sometimes, after severe interventions, they were given permission to ride a boat (under guard, of course). Jozef was known for his love of water sports and he had a large lake right under his window…

In May 1940, at a meeting of the Polish government in Angers, Władysław Sikorski suggested allowing some members of the last cabinet of the Second Polish Republic to enter France. Professor Kot proposed Skladkowski and Kwiatkowski (founder of Gdynia and the Central Industrial Region), and August Zaleski (who again took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs) appointed his predecessor. He explained that Romania was under heavy German pressure and that the Nazis might kill Beck. The protest was expressed by Jan Stanczyk; eventually a special committee was set up to deal with the topic. However, two days later, Germany attacked France and soon the ally fell under the blows of the Nazis. After the evacuation of the Polish authorities to London, the topic never returned.

In October, Jozef Beck tried to escape from internment - apparently, he wanted to get to Turkey. Caught, spent several days in a dirty prison, terribly bitten by insects. The Romanian authorities were reportedly informed of Beck's plans by the Sikorski government, informed by a loyal Polish émigré...

Bekov moved to a villa in the suburbs of Bucharest; there the ex-minister had the right to walk under the protection of a police officer. Free time, and he had a lot of it, he devoted to writing memoirs, building models of wooden ships, reading a lot and playing his favorite bridge. His health was systematically deteriorating - in the summer of 1942 he was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis of the throat. Two years later, due to Allied air raids on Bucharest, the Bekov was transferred to Stanesti. They settled in an empty two-room village school built of clay (!). There, the former minister died on June 5, 1944.

Jadwiga Beck outlived her husband by almost 30 years. After the death of her husband, who was buried with military honors (which Mrs. Beck really aspired to - the deceased was a holder of high Romanian awards), she left for Turkey with her daughter, then worked in the Red Cross with the Polish army in Cairo. After the Allies entered Italy, she moved to Rome, taking advantage of the hospitality of her Italian friends. After the war she lived in Rome and Brussels; for three years she was a magazine manager in the Belgian Congo. After arriving in London, like many Polish émigrés, she earned her living as a cleaner. However, she never forgot that her husband was a member of the last cabinet of free Poland, and she always fought for her rights. And often came out of it as a winner.

He spent the last months of his life in the village of Stanesti-Cirulesti, not far from the Romanian capital. Sick of tuberculosis, he died on June 5, 1944 and was buried in the military unit of the Orthodox cemetery in Bucharest. In 1991, his ashes were transferred to Poland and buried at the Powazki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.

A few years later, for health reasons, she had to quit her job and stay with her daughter and son-in-law. She prepared for publication her husband's diaries ("The Last Report") and wrote to the emigrant "Literary Literature". She also wrote down her own recollections of the time she was married to the Foreign Minister ("When I Was Your Excellency"). She died in January 1974 and was buried in London.

What was characteristic of Jadwiga Betskovoy, her daughter and son-in-law wrote in the preface to their diaries, was incredible stubbornness and civic courage. She refused to use one-time single travel documents and, intervening directly in the affairs of foreign ministers, ensured that the consular offices of Belgium, France, Italy and the United Kingdom attached her visas to the old diplomatic passport of the Republic of Poland.

Until the end, Mrs. Beck felt like an excellency, the widow of the last Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Second Polish Republic ...