Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Polish: [iɡˈnatsɨ ˈjan padɛˈrɛfskʲi] ; 6 November [O.S. 25 October] 1860 [or 1859] – 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 time he signed the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I.
A favorite of concert audiences around the world, his musical fame gave him access to diplomacy and the media, as well as, possibly, his status as a freemason, and the charitable work of his second wife, Helena Paderewska. During World War I, Paderewski advocated for an independent Poland, including by touring the United States, where he met President Woodrow Wilson, who came to support the creation of an independent Poland. Wilson included that aim in his Fourteen Points and argued for it at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, which drew up the Treaty of Versailles.
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.
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