Bronisław Geremek was born in 1932 in Warsaw. He obtained his MA at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw. In 1956, he received a scholarship of Section VI of the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. He worked closely with historians forming the historical scientific school "Annales", including Fernand Braudel, Maurice Lombard, Jacques Le Goff, Ruggiero Romano.
In 1962, he defended his PhD thesis, "Mercenary labour in the crafts of Paris 13th to 15th century: a study of the medieval labour market". It was subsequently published in France (1968 and 1982) and Italy (1975). From 1962 to 1965, Bronisław Geremek worked in Paris, heading the Centre for Polish Culture at the Sorbonne. In 1962, he published the pioneering article "Mentality and Collective Psychology in History".
After returning to Warsaw in 1965, he obtained a habilitation in 1970 based on his work devoted to marginal groups in medieval Paris. It was published in 1976 in France as "Les marginaux parisiens aux XIVe et XVe siècles". In the 1970s, Bronislaw Geremek wrote his major books "Mercy and the Gallows. A History of Misery and Charity" and ‘The World of "Beggar’s Opera". The Image of Vagabonds and Paupers in European Literature from the 15th to the 17th Century".
In 1985, he was removed from his position at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) for his active involvement in the Solidarity movement. He returned to the PAS in 1989, being appointed Associate Professor and, later, in 1995, Ordinary Professor at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
He was appointed International Chair at the College de France in 1992/1993. Since 2002, Professor Bronislaw Geremek headed the Chair of European Civilisation at the College of Europe in Natolin, focusing on studying European history and cultural identity.
The bibliography of Bronisław Geremek’s works includes more than 300 items, including ten books translated into ten languages, including French, English, German and Italian. He mastered linking the history of Poland with the history of Europe. He also published significant works on the history of medieval culture in Poland within the framework of the Laboratory for the History of Medieval Culture at the PAS which he led between 1965-1980.
Bronisław Geremek was a member of the Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR) between 1950-1968, leaving it in protest the day after the Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia. He became involved in Polish democratic opposition in the mid-1970s. In 1978, he was a signatory of the founding declaration of the Society of Academic Courses (TKN), an initiative aimed at restoring the truth in teaching about contemporary Polish history and rejecting communist censorship. He was a lecturer at TKN and a member of its Programme Council. Between 1980-1989, he served as the chief advisor to Lech Wałęsa, leader of the Solidarność (Solidarity) trade union. He co-authored Solidarity’s "Self-governing Republic" political programme and led the union’s geopolitical strategy to make the Polish struggle for freedom a matter of international attention. He was arrested 1981-2, 1983, and 1985 for his engagement in Solidarity. In 1985, he was expelled from the Polish Academy of Sciences on disciplinary charges. In 1989, he led political negotiations with the communist party during the Rounds Table talks, which resulted in semi-free elections on 4 June 1989, which brought a landslide victory for Solidarity candidates.
He was elected to the Sejm (lower chamber of the Parliament) in 1989 and became the leader of the Civic Parliamentary Club representing Solidarity MPs.
He chaired the Sejm’s Foreign Affairs Committee (1989-97), the Constitutional Committee (1989-91) and the European Law Committee (2000-2001). He was also chairman of the Parliamentary Club of the Democratic Union (Unia Demokratyczna) and then of the Freedom Union (Unia Wolności). After the parliamentary elections in October 1991, he was assigned by President Lech Wałęsa to form a government. He resigned on 14 November, unable to create a governing majority in the Parliament.
Between 1997-2000, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Jerzy Buzek’s government. In 1998, on behalf of Poland, he chaired the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). On 31 March 1998, he made a statement on the opening of the negotiations for Poland's accession to the European Union. On 12 March 1999, he signed Poland’s accession documents to NATO.
In 1998, he was awarded the Charlemagne Prize, Europe’s most important award for contributing to peace and unity in Europe. In 2000, with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he founded the Community of Democracies, a global coalition of states whose main objective was to promote democratic principles and strengthen democratic norms and institutions.
In 2001, he was a member of the Group of Wise Men on the Future of Europe set up by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. In 2002, upon request of the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, he joined the Reflection Group on the Spiritual and Cultural Dimension of Europe. In 2002, he was an honorary speaker in the German Parliament during the German Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism.
In 2004, he was elected to the European Parliament, adhering to the parliamentary group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). He stood as a candidate of ALDE for the presidency of the EP. In the EP, he was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
Between 2006-2008, he chaired Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe in Lausanne. In 2003, he joined the scientific committee of "A gauche, en Europe" association founded by Michel Rocard and Pierre Moscovici. Since 2004, he has served as vice-chairman of the "Fondation pour l’innovation politique" supervisory board.
Bronisław Geremek was a member of the following academic institutions: Academia Europea, Academy of Yuste, European Medieval Academy, International Crisis Group (member of the board), Polish Historical Society, Société européenne de Culture (deputy chairman 2003-2008), Polish and French PEN Clubs.
He was awarded 23 honorary doctorates by leading academic institutions worldwide (e.g. Bologna University, Columbia University, the Sorbonne) for his scholarly and public achievements. Accordingly, he received the following awards: Prix Marie-Eugène Simon-Henri-Martin by The Académie Française (1977), the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation of New York (1986), the Louis Weiss Prize (1989), the Gottfried van Herder Prize (1990), the International Prize of the Société européenne de culture (1992), The Pierre Lafue Prize (1999), Grand Prix de la francophonie for lifetime academic achievements by Académie Française (2002), The Jean Rey Prize.
Bronisław Geremek was also recipient of following awards: The Europrize (1999), Prix Politique Internationale – Sorbonne for "his struggle for freedom under communism in Poland and for his vision of Poland’s role in Europe", Paris 2000, The 4 Freedoms Award by the Roosevelt Foundation (2000), The National Democratic Institute’s Democracy Award (2004), the Carlos V European Award, the Marion Gräfin Dönhoff Award (2006), Europa 2008 Award of Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 2008 Premio Europa Award by De Gasperi Foundation (posthumously).
After Bronisław Geremek passing in 2008, the courtyard of the European Parliament in Strasbourg was named The Bronisław Geremek Agora in his honour.
Notice redacted by Wojciech Białożyt ((March 2025)