An exhibition in tribute to Bronislaw Geremek, one of the architects of Poland’s democratic transformations has opened at the European Parliament in Brussels. 

Michal Kubicki reports
 
Bronislaw Geremek died in a car accident last July at the age of 76. A historian by profession, he was one of the leaders of the democratic opposition in communist Poland. After the collapse of communism, as Poland’s foreign minister in the late 1990s, he played a key role in the country’s joining of NATO. In the last years of his life, he was a member of the European Parliament.

Dana Spinant, editor of the European Voice published in Brussels, describes Geremek as the link between the past, the present and the future: ‘He was always viewed with admiration. He was one of the very few politicians of the European Parliament to command respect wherever he went. There’s a sort of regret in the Brussels circles that this high historical figure was not put to better use as an ambassador for the European institutions.’
 
A member of the Liberal group, he lost the elections for the presidency of the European Parliament because of a deal between the socialists and the conservatives. Dana Spinant remembers well the debate preceding the vote: ‘It was like a huge  demonstration of support and respect for Geremek. The debate room for full of young people working for the European Parliament and from other institutions who came there to express their  respect, their admiration and to a certain extent their frustration with the fact that was not going to be elected president of the European Parliament.’
 
Here in Poland Bronislaw Geremek is remembered above all for his role in the democratic transformations. Pawel Dobrowolski, who was the Foreign Ministry spokesman during Bronislaw Geremek’s tenure as foreign minister: ‘First of all in the 1980s when he became adviser to Lech Wałęsa and Solidarity, and then in 1989, after the Round Table and the June elections, he became the head of the largest parliamentary club, the Solidarity club, and in that capacity he was one of the very few people – it’s always like that – ‘a Polish revolution’ had to have its leaders, the leaders are always few and he was one of them definitely. Then came the moment when he joined the government and this was another phase of his formulating the way Poland is going to develop.’
 
When Geremek became Poland’s foreign minister in 1997, he held a discussion with his aides about the first country he should visit. Some suggested Berlin or Paris. Geremek, however, opted for Vilnius and Kiev. 
 
‘This was a message of unity for Europe. It was one of his greatest dreams. He knew it as a historian – the cultural unity of the continent. He wanted to achieve it in political terms at the same time. I remember how moved he was when he put Polish signature  in Independence, Missouri on the document that achieved Polish NATO membership. In history books this will go down as his major achievement,’ said Pawel Dobrowolski.
 
The exhibition at the European Parliament also presents Geremek’s achievements in the academic field as well as his extremely warm personality, something is stressed by all those who had the chance to meet him.