"The report on Bronislaw Geremek's sudden death has touched me very much.
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Poland marks Warsaw ghetto uprising ... I appreciated him as a remarkably reasonable and good man, very gentle as understanding. His death is not only a loss for Poland, but for all of us who are striving for the free and decent world," said Havel, former Czech dissident, in reaction to Geremek's death. Czech Deputy PM Alexandr Vondra told that he was deeply affected by the news on Geremek's death. "Geremek participated in the birth of the Polish Solidarity, he witnessed NATO and EU enlargement...An immense loss. I offer my condolences to Poland," said Vondra, who attends a summit on the Union for the Mediterranean in Paris. "Geremek was a great personality who knew it very well what Poland should do to get rid of the burdens of the nationalist past and become a leading and active member of the European family and integration," said Jiri Dienstbier, first Czechoslovak post-communist foreign minister. "Geremek was one of the most significant personalities of the resistance to totalitarianism both before 1990 and afterwards, one of the architects of new democracy and rule of law," said former Czech dissident and journalist Petr Uhl. Along with Havel, Dienstbier, Vondra, Uhl and rank among leading opponents of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia and signatories of the Charter 77 human rights manifestos. Czech and Polish dissidents had close contacts and they used to meet before the collapse of the communist regime. Geremek participated in the establishment of the anti-Communist trade union Solidarity in summer 1980 that helped topple the communist rule in Poland. In 1983-1987 he was a key adviser to Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, who later became Polish president. Geremek was imprisoned many times for his political conviction by the communist regime. After its fall, he occupied the post of foreign minister in October 1997-June 2000.
(Ceske Noviny)
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