AJC Remembers Bronislaw Geremek
July 13, 2008 – New York – The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is saddened by the tragic death of Bronislaw Geremek, former Foreign Minister of Poland and a highly respected Member of the European Parliament. Geremek, 76, died this morning in a car accident near Nowy Tomyśl, Poland.
“Words do not describe this tremendous loss, for both Poland and the Jewish people,” said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. “Bronislaw Geremek was a statesman and diplomat of the first order, and a beloved son of Poland. He will be sorely missed.”
A leading political activist and survivor of the Holocaust, Geremek was a key figure in forging a promising new relationship between postcommunist Poland and the Jewish people, both in Poland and around the world. Indeed, as foreign minister, Geremek came to Washington to address the AJC annual meeting in 1999.
Geremek’s historic leadership in Polish political life included his important role in the democratic opposition movement, Solidarity. He was jailed a number of times by Communist authorities after the imposition of martial law in 1981.
Between 1987 and 1989, Geremek was the leader of the Commission for Political Reforms of the Civic Committee, which prepared guidelines for peaceful democratic transformations in Poland. In 1989, Geremek played a crucial role during debates between Solidarity and the Communist authorities, which led to the first parliamentary elections in Eastern Europe.
His dedication to politically transitioning Poland back to democracy was evident in his work as a founding member of the Freedom Union Party. Geremek was a member of the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, in which he chaired the Committee for Foreign Affairs and the Constitutional Commission.
Geremek was appointed Polish Foreign Minister in October 1997, a post he held for three years. On March 12, 1999, he signed the NATO accession treaty on behalf of the Polish government.
Following Poland’s accession to the EU, he was elected in 2004 with the largest amount of votes in Warsaw to serve in the European Parliament. AJC leaders worked very closely with Geremek, particularly in the years in which he led Polish efforts to join NATO. He presented Poland's Sword of Freedom, one of only three presented in the United States, to David Harris in gratitude for AJC's steadfast support of Poland's membership in NATO.
AJC, with an office in Warsaw, has long played a central role in furthering Polish-U.S, Polish-Jewish relations. AJC was the first Jewish organization to publicly support the inclusion of Poland in the first round of NATO expansion in 1999, sponsors the National Polish American-Jewish American Council in the U.S., and partnered with the Polish government to build a fitting memorial at the site of the Nazi death camp at Belzec.
Professor Bronisław Geremek, a former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, a member of European Parliament and chairman of the Freedom Union, has died today at the age of 76 in a car crash near Nowy Tomyśl, Poland. The accident occurred about 13:15 Polish time (12:15 UTC) along the way 92 near Lubień in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. 

According to the spokeswoman of the Greater Poland Voidodeships's police, Hanna Wachowiak, Geremek died when the Mercedes he was driving collided head-on with a Fiat Ducato on the road from Warsaw to the German border. The reason of Geremek's car crossing to the other side of the road and crashing into the oncoming car is still unknown. "The officers are investigating the reasons of the accident. They have interrogated first witnesses", said Mariusz Sokołowski, the spokesman of the Main Command of Police in an interview with the Polish news channel TVN 24. Bronisław Geremek was the only casualty of the crash; the driver of the Fiat and his passenger as well as the passenger of Geremek's Mercedes have been transported to hospitals in Poznań and Nowy Tomyśl. 

The daily ''Dziennik'' writes it was not the excessive speed which caused the crash. The newspaper's Internet news service informs that both cars were driving with the speed of 90-100 km/h (56-62 mph). The daily reports it is assumed that Bronisław Germemek might have collapsed when driving; other assumptions include a defect of the car. "It lasted for a split of seconds. I don't even know how it happened. I haven't seen anything wrong happening to professor", told Geremek's passenger the police officers.

Bronisław Geremek was born on March 6, 1932 in Warsaw, Poland. Being a historian by training, he was an associate professor of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk, ''PAN''), a member of the democratic opposition in the Polish People's Republic, a member of Sejm from 1989 to 2001 and a chairman of the political party Freedom Union. He served as a Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland from October 31, 1997 to June 30, 2000. He was also a member of the European Parliament from July 20, 2004 onwards. 

Bronisław Geremek is survived by two sons.