A great politician died today

[cegorach]

BBC

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Polish ex-minister Geremek dies


Bronislaw Geremek, a key anti-communist dissident and former Polish foreign minister, has been killed in a car crash, police have announced.

Mr Geremek, 76, died when the car he was in hit an oncoming vehicle in western Poland on Sunday afternoon.

He was one of the key advisers to Lech Walesa, the Solidarity union leader which helped topple communist rule.

Mr Geremek was foreign minister from 1997-2000 and European Parliament member since 2004.

Mr Geremek died when his Mercedes car collided with a van near the western town of Lubien, police spokeswoman Hanna Wachowiak said.

It was not immediately clear on whether he was driving at the time.

The former foreign minister - a historian by training - oversaw his country's accession to Nato.

Le Monde

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Bronislaw Geremek, ancien membre du syndicat Solidarnosc et figure de l'opposition anti-communiste polonaise, est mort, dimanche 13 juillet à l'âge de 76 ans, dans un accident de voiture en Pologne. Selon la police locale, le véhicule à bord duquel se trouvait Bronislaw Geremek a roulé subitement sur la voie opposée près de Lubien, dans l'ouest du pays, et a heurté une voiture arrivant en face.


Né en 1932 à Varsovie, Bronislaw Geremek étudie l'histoire à l'université de Varsovie avant de fréquenter l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, à Paris. Après avoir adhéré au Parti communiste polonais, il se désolidarisera suite à l'invasion de la Tchécoslovaquie par les troupes du pacte de Varsovie en 1968. Passé dans la dissidence, il coopère avec le Comité de défense des ouvriers (KOR), embryon de l'opposition démocratique, fondé en 1976. Il assiste à l'été 1980 les ouvriers des chantiers navals en grève, et les aide à fonder Solidarnosc, le premier syndicat libre du bloc soviétique.

En 1981, après le coup de force du général Wojciech Jaruzelski contre le syndicat dirigé par Lech Walesa, M. Geremek est emprisonné pour deux ans et demi. Lors de la chute du régime communiste, il milite au sein de Solidarnosc pour une entente avec l'ancien régime, qui ouvre la voie à une passation pacifique du pouvoir.

Bronislaw Geremek dirige ensuite la diplomatie polonaise de 1997 à 2000. Après l'adhésion de la Pologne à l'UE en mai 2004, il se fait élire député au Parlement européen sur les listes d'un parti réformateur issu de Solidarité, mandat qu'il assumait toujours au moment de sa mort.

Wiki

Many political leaders have spoken today - especially from France because Mr.Geremek was a known francophile (studied at Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, honoured by the French authorities and the scientific world many times).

To me this man was a giant - enormous knowledge, always trying to reach a consensus, but a man of principle who had the guts to stand firmly for his beliefs whether it was during the communist era and worked hard to end it or when he supported the invasion of Iraq.

A man from the old, great generation - born in Warsaw, survived the hell of the Nazi ghetto (was Jewish), one of the most popular and most respected Polish politicians.

I find no words which can express my respect so I will stay silent.

[Kralizec]

Rest in peace...

[Adrian II]

Here is Tomothy Garton Ash's take on Gemerek. He certainly echoes Cegorach's feelings:

When a friend dies, a part of you dies too. When Bronislaw Geremek was killed in a car accident on Sunday, a part of Europe was lost as well.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Quite a loss for Europe.

He was one of a dieing breed as well, which I regret. Old intellectuals. Born before WWII, raised in a former, more traditional European upbringing. With classical education and classical cultural values, that instilled a sense of belonging to an international, pan-European culture. Enlightened too.

How many didn't spend their young adolenscence during the onslaught of barbarities that plagued Europe, from the nationalism of the 1910's, the ravages of the thirties, WWII, the lowering of the Iron Curtain, the colonial wars? (It is one of those questions that puzzles my mind: was it all the fault of the unwashed masses claiming their stake in society, or did it all go wrong at the top?)

However that may be, Geremek showed that it was possible to live through turbulent times, through turbulent personal circumstances, and not succumb to the demands and temptations of narrower minds and thoughts. And he showed that one can be a Jew amongst Jews, a Pole amongst Poles, a Frenchman amongst Frenchmen. In short, that he was a European. In this respect, to me, he represents a dissapearing past, and, if it were up to me, a European future as well.

[KrooK]

I must tell that despite I never shared some of his ideas I always respected him as a man.

[Kralizec]

I must tell that despite I never shared some of his minds I always respected him as a man.

He was schizophrenic?