 In 1934–35 he was vice director of the Foreign Ministry's political department.In 1930–38 he was a Sejm deputy (in 1935–38, Vice Marshal of the Sejm).When the Soviet Union invaded Poland on September 17, 1939, Schaetzel, along with other Polish political and military leaders, crossed the border into Romania, where he was interned in 1939–44 with Foreign Minister Józef Beck.