Bronislaw Geremek is a deputy in the Polish Sejm, or lower chamber of parliament. He has served in the parliament since 1989 and also served as minister of foreign affairs in Poland from 1997-2000. Geremek was chairman of the Sejm Foreign Affairs Committee from 1989-97 and chairman of the Constitutional Committee from 1989-91. He is a cofounder of the Democratic Union and was chairman of the parliamentary caucus of the Democratic Union, now known as the Freedom Union Caucus, from 1990-97.
In addition to his years of public service, Geremek has had a distinguished academic career. A graduate of Warsaw University (History, M.A., Ph.D), he also studied at the Sorbonne. He is a cofounder of the Society of Scientific Courses, an independent educational initiative known under the Polish name of ³Latajacy Uniwersytet.² As an activist, he was an expert of the Interim Coordinating Committee of the banned Solidarity Union and a close adviser to Lech Walesa.
Geremek is a well-known author and is the recipient of 11 honorary doctoral degrees conferred on him by universities such as Columbia, Bologna, Utrecht, and Sorbonne. He has received the Grand Cross of Merit with Star of the German Order of Merit, among other distinctions.