Awards & recognitions

Professor Bronislaw Geremek was awarded the Order of the White Eagle in 2002 by Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of the Republic of Poland, in recognition of his “distinguished services to the Republic of Poland, and in particular his outstanding achievements for the democratic transition of the country and the strengthening of Poland’s position in the world.”

In 1998, he becaome the first Pole ever to be honoured with the Charlemagne Prize, Europe’s most prestigious award for contribution to peace and unity in Europe.

He has received numerous awards for his diplomatic and international activities, including: Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1996), Order of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Gediminos 3 Degrees (1997), Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2000), Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2001), Order Pour le Mérite für Wissenscheften und Künste (Germany, 2002), Order of the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Republic of Hungary (2002), Order of the Three Stars (Latvia, 2004), Grand Cross of the Land of Mary (Estonia, 2006), Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II (Belgium), Order of Merit of Chile. He was a Commander of the National Order of Merit (Ordre National du Mérite, 2000) and an officer of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic (2004).

He was also recipient of following awards: The Europrize (1999), the European Civic Prize awarded by the ELDR Group in the European Parliament (1999), University of California School of Public Policy’s Distinguished Policy Leadership Award (1999), Prix Politique Internationale – Sorbonne for “his struggle for freedom under communism in Poland and for his vision of Poland’s role in Europe”, Paris (2000), The 4 Freedoms Award (The Roosevelt Foundation, 2000), European Pearl Award for “embodying internationally the continuity and importance of Polish European thought and contributing to the cultural mission of a united Europe” (2003), The National Democratic Institute’s W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award (2004),  the Carlos V European Award, the Marion Gräfin Dönhoff Award (2006), Europa 2008 Award (of the Swedish newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet), the Diploma for Outstanding Contributions to the Creation of the Museum of Polish Diplomacy and Refugees at the Higher School of Education in Bydgoszcz.

For his scholarly activity, Prof. Bronisław Geremek was awarded 23 honorary degrees worldwide, including universities: François Rabelais in Tours (1982), Utrecht (1986), Columbia (1989), Bologna (1989), Oberlin College (1990), Sorbonne (1991), Leicester (1992), Brown University (1994), Université libre de Bruxelles (1995), University of Turin (1997), Sofia University (1998), Brandeis University in Waltham (1999), University of Quebec in Monreal (2000), Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg (Université de Strasbourg II, 2000), Free University of Belin (2000), Waseda University (2000), University of Padua (2001), Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2001), University of New South Wales in Sydney (2003), Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj (2003), Lumière-Lyon-II University (2005), Jagiellonian University (2005), Viadrina University (2006).

He has also received awards: the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award of New York (1986), the Louis Weiss Prize (1989), the Gottfried van Herder Prize (1990), the František Palacky Gold Medal of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (1991), the International Prize of the Société européenne de culture (1992), Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1999), Prix de Société Européenne de Culture, The Pierre Lafue Prize for his academic achievements and “his struggle for the emancipation of his country and its integration into a Europe of freedom” (1999, awarded as first foreigner ever), Grand prix de la francophonie (2002), Medal of the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2003), The Jean Rey Prize, distintion of Scuola di Scienze Politiche “Cesare Alfieri” at the University of Florence (2007), Premio Europa of the Alcide De Gasperi Foundation (posthumously, 2008).

In 1989, the US weekly ‘Newsweek’ included Bronisław Geremek among the personalities who had the greatest impact on world events (“People of the Year”, scan courtesy of Andrew Nagorski).

In 2004, he was awarded the title “Man of the Year” by Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

In November 2003, he became a member of the scientific committee of “A gauche, en Europe” association founded by Michel Rocard, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Pierre Moscovici, and since 2004 he has served as vice-chairman of the supervisory board of the “Fondation pour l’innovation politique”.