Bronisław Geremek (; born Benjamin Lewertow; 6 March 1932 – 13 July 2008) was a Polish social historian and politician. He served as Member of Parliament (1991–2001), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1997–2000), leader of the Freedom Union (2000–2001), as well as Member of the European Parliament (2004–2008). Early life and education Bronisław Geremek was born as Benjamin Lewertow in Warsaw on 6 March 1932. His father Boruch Lewertow, a fur merchant, was murdered in Auschwitz. His mother, Sharca, and he were smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 and were sheltered by Stefan Geremek. Stefan Geremek later married Bronisław's mother and Bronisław was further raised in a Roman Catholic tradition. In his adult life, he considered himself neither a Jew nor a Catholic. His grandfather was a maggid, his brother Jerry, lived in New York as a Jew, and his sons living in Poland are Roman Catholics. In 1954, Bronisław Geremek graduated from the Faculty of History at the Warsaw University. In 1956–1958, he completed postgraduate studies at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. He completed his PhD in 1960 and he was granted a postdoctoral degree at the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) in 1972. He was appointed associate professor in 1989. The chief domain of Geremek's scholarly work was research on the history of culture and medieval society. His scholarly achievements included numerous articles and lectures, as well as ten books, which have been translated into ten languages. His doctoral thesis (1960) concerned the labour market in medieval Paris, including prostitution. His postdoctoral thesis (1972) concerned underworld groups in medieval Paris. Most of Geremek's scholarly career was connected with the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he worked from 1955 to 1985. From 1960 to 1965, he was also a lecturer at the Sorbonne in Paris and the manager of the Polish Culture Centre of that university. Geremek was given honorary degrees by the University of Bologna, Utrecht University, the Sorbonne, Columbia University, Waseda University, and Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In 1992, he was designated visiting professor at the Collège de France. He was a member of Academia Europaea, the PEN Club, the Société Européenne de Culture, fellow of Collegium Invisibile and numerous other societies and associations. He was a longtime professor and Chairholder of the Chair of European Civilisation at the College of Europe until his death. Political activity History