Szymański grew up in Międzyrzec Podlaski, and finished high school in Wrocław.

In 1981, he graduated from Yugoslav studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice,[2] specialising in Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian languages.

Back at the Ministry, he was serving as a director of the Department for Cooperation with Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad.

[1] In January 2013, Szymański started his mission as an ambassador to Croatia, ending his term in July 2017.

His works have been publishing in books, atlases, and magazines, including National Geographic.