The example of Bronisław Geremek proves the saying that: “prophet is not without honor save in his own country”. In Poland professor Geremek was perceived as a very controversial person: as a historian, an opposition member and a politician. He stemmed from a certain generation. He survived Warsaw Ghetto where he witnessed horrible things. It stigmatized him for his whole life. As a historian, as a person he always sided with the poor, the persecuted, the excluded. Hence, he found himself on the way to the communist party just after war. By joining the communist party, he hoped to find answers for nasism and fascism.
Making this choice, professor Geremek was not besotted , which is why he chose medieval studies. While writing about medieval ages, he did not have to cite the work of Józef Stalin on each page.
This is the reason for his scientific and ideological interests. He himself wanted to be on the side of those negatively portrayed by history – the excluded ones, as I mentioned before. Those interests gave rise to his most important works about social margins: Świat opery żebraczej and Litość i szubienica. Within the period of material law the communist propaganda wrote about Geremek: How can this expert of Parisian prostitutes from 14th century have any idea about reality? I remembered then some observation made by Karol Modzelewski. He said he could not understand the indignation of the communist newspapers as the knowledge about the customs of prostitutes was a perfect key to understand the ruling communists.
Bronislaw Geremek’s Marxism had been always a scientific method, never a dogma or an obligatory doctrine. The crucial moment for Professor was 1968 and the Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia. Professor Geremek returned a communist membership card and he left a communist party, which was an act of great courage for that time. To put it straight, it was easier not to be in the party at all, then to leave it. Since then he started to make his way towards the democratic opposition that he joined just after his return from USA. This opposition led him to the Gdańsk Shipyard being on strike in august 1980.
For Geremek it was a kind of a fulfillment of his youthful dream , to be on side of the poor, the sufferers, the humiliated. For the same reason he joined the communist party at first in 40s and then the striking shipyard workers in 80s where he was one of Lech Wałęsa’s and the Striking Committee’s closest advisers.
Professor Geremek was motivated, at least this is the way I see it, by a strong moral imperative. He did not tolerate the world of hypocrisy and violence. After 1968 there was a peculiar climate of anti-Semitism and of the Soviet Intervention in Czechoslovakia. There was a very popular anecdote at that time: in 1969 there is a man on Václavské náměsti, the main square in Prague, and he is throwing up into the fountain. The other man comes up to him and says “Excuse me, we haven’t met, but I just wanted to say that I totally agree with you, Sir“.
Now, for many people it was a main motive to resist the overwhelming, impudent hypocrisy of the official propaganda. For Polish people August 1980 was a kind of a collective spitting out a gag. Poland spoke in its own genuine voice. One of the most important voices was this of Bronisław Geremek. It was the voice of courage without fanaticism, of compromise without cowardice.
The beautiful time for Poland lasted for less than a year and a half. As Kapuściński wrote, it was the time of straightening shoulders, a kind of a gulp of freedom. On 13th December everything was over. The negotiators were replaced with he government with the warders and the inquiry officers. Professor Geremek had been interned for about a year. After he had been released, he joined the environment of underground Solidarność, where he played a significant role. He was also a close associate of Lech Wałęsa, and again he was imprisoned. At the same time, professor Geremek was a minister of foreign affairs of resisting Poland, imprisoned Poland, gagged and repressed Poland. I believe, that while performing varied official duties, he was in fact always a minister of foreign affairs, throughout all this period, till his death.
Although we had various ministers of foreign affairs, the true and most important one was Bronisław Geremek. He played a crucial role as he negotiated the political reforms. Among all of us from the Round Table, Geremek was surely the most distrustful one. He was afraid that communist could trick or entrap us. That is why he was the most cautious one, concerned for the precision of every legacy. I would like to say, that from my perspective, Geremek was probably the most intelligent politician on Solidarność’s side. It does not mean of course that I always agreed with him, on the contrary.
In 1989 it would not occur any of us, that Solidarność camp could take over the power. As a matter of fact, there were only two people on Solidarność’s side who were determined enough to say that after the winning of the election, Solidarność should have created a project of taking back power and government. It was Jacek Kuroń and me.
Professor Geremek was cautious. I remember very well when Professor changed his mind. It was the moment when he realized that two factors had changed. First of all, the transformation in Soviet Union went so far, that it was in fact possible to take back the power from the communists. The other factor was that Professor has realized, that on Jaruzelski’s side, such an option was not precluded ,so the takeover would not result in civil war. Hence, the Bronisław Geremek’s philosophy was of reconciliation, not of revenge. It was a philosophy of amnesty, but not of amnesia or sclerosis. Professor Geremek became convinced it was possible to get out of dictatorship in the Spanish way.
Geremek was an important personage in liberated Poland. He lost the elections indeed, but his vision of Poland won. Nowadays Poland is a democratic country where all human rights are respected. It is a country which has good relationships with its neigbours and the ethnic minorities. It was Geremek’s vision and it won. He believed deeply that Poland’s place is among European countries. Like Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Jerzy Turowicz or Józef Tischner he was also an advocate of the friendly and kind separation of State and Church.
I witnessed how professor Geremek gave lecture during the conference in Castel Gandolfo and how it was received with great approval by the pope. I am mentioning this for the image of Geremek is very often distorted in inner debates in Poland. In his lifetime he was criticized frequently in a mean way. He was a classy man of aristocratic spirit. He did not get involved into polemics with just anybody.
At the same time he feared the populist syndrome that is present in all countries of postcommunist Europe. He opted for free market economy, but it was supposed to be a market with human face. He was aware that the real fight for democracy depends on the civil society. What he was afraid of was the syndrome of Polish hell that is a destructive inner conflict between state and society. That is way he was an adversary of this form of inspection which became popular in a certain moment in Poland. When the accusations of being Security Service agent were aimed at Lech Wałęsa, professor initiated a collective defense of Lech Wałęsa. Those who accused him were called by Geremek the officers of memory.
Professor Geremek was a very discreet man. He did not like to talk about himself and he would not. But it is like that: when a historian or a writer wants to hide something, his biographer will always find a way to decode it. Now, professor Geremek hid himself in an essay about a great French historian Marek Bloch. It is a confession of Marek Bloch being a great historian and an active participator in the French movement La Résistance at the same time. Regarding anti-Semitism of Vichy France Bloch wrote about himself: “I am a Jew according to the Nuremberg laws, but I am a Frenchman according to my sense of nationality. When they kill me, I will die as a Frenchman.”
There is no doubt that professor Geremek died as a good Pole.
The text is a record of the speech delivered during the conference devoted to memory of Bronisław Geremek in Academia dei Lincei in Rome, on 21st April 2009.
Translated by Alicja Błaszkowska.
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