Important personnel changes are imminent at the Polish embassy. Poland's ambassador in Berlin, Dariusz Pawloś, leaves Berlin. The Germanist and diplomat has represented his country in Germany since 2022.

The new ambassador is Jan Tombinski. He will begin his mission in Berlin shortly before September 1, the defining date for German-Polish relations: The Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.

Former dissident

Jan Tombiński studied German Philology and History. In the 1980s, he was part of the dissident movement and wrote for illegal publications. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. From 2001 to 2007 he was Poland's Ambassador to France, then Permanent Representative of Poland to the EU until 2012, then Ambassador of the European External Action Service in Ukraine, then also as EU Ambassador to the Holy See. Before his appointment to Germany, he was a high-level EU advisor in Moldova.

In addition to his native language Polish, the diplomat speaks German, English, French, Slovenian, Czech and Ukrainian. With his wife Agnieszka Tombinska, he has ten children.

The embassy moves to Mitte

His first tasks include moving the Polish Embassy from Berlin-Grunewald (Lassenstraße 19) to Mitte. The new Unter den Linden building is located next to the Hungarian embassy and diagonally opposite the Russian embassy. The new embassy will be ready for use in late autumn.

EU Council Presidency from 1 January 2025

There is a lot of pressure when moving. Poland will take over the EU presidency in the first half of 2025. By then, the House must be fully operational for the start of the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Head of politics takes over cultural institute in Budapest

Also the head of the political department of the embassy, Jaroslaw Bajaczyk, says farewell in August, in the direction of Hungary. In Budapest, Councillor Bajaczyk becomes head of the Polish Cultural Institute. Home advantage for his wife: She is Hungarian. And Bajaczyk speaks Hungarian.

Bajaczyk recently held a farewell reception with companions from his four years in Berlin at the Polish Cultural Institute in Berlin-Mitte. The head of the local cultural institute, Katarzyna Sitko, had also worked with Jaroslaw Bajaczyk in previous years in Budapest.

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