Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Paderewski circa 1935
3rd Prime Minister of Poland
In office 18 January 1919 – 27 November 1919
President	Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State)
Preceded by	Jędrzej Moraczewski
Succeeded by	Leopold Skulski
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 16 January 1919 – 9 December 1919
Prime Minister	Himself Leopold Skulski
Preceded by	Leon Wasilewski
Succeeded by	Władysław Wróblewski
Chief of the National Council of Poland
In office 9 December 1939 – 29 June 1941
Personal details
Born	Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-11-06)6 November 1860 Kurylivka, Podolia Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	29 June 1941(1941-06-29) (aged 80) New York City, US
Spouses	Antonina Korsakówna ​ ​ (m. 1880; died 1880)​ Helena von Rosen ​ ​ (m. 1899; died 1934)​
Children	3
Education	Warsaw Conservatory
Profession	Pianist, composer, politician, intellectual, and diplomat
Signature

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Polish: [iɡˈnatsɨ ˈjan padɛˈrɛfskʲi] ^ⓘ; 18 November [O.S. 6 November] 1860 – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's prime minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.^[1]

A favorite of concert audiences around the world, his musical fame opened access to diplomacy and the media, as possibly did his status as a freemason,^[2] and charitable work of his second wife, Helena Paderewska. During World War I, Paderewski advocated an independent Poland, including by touring the United States, where he met with President Woodrow Wilson, who came to support the creation of an independent Poland in his Fourteen Points at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, which led to the Treaty of Versailles.^[3]

Shortly after his resignation from office, Paderewski resumed his concert career to recoup his finances and rarely visited the politically chaotic Poland thereafter, the last time being in 1924.^[4]