Adam Daniel Rotfeld (Polish pronunciation: ; born 4 March 1938) is a Polish researcher, diplomat, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

from 5 January 2005 until 31 October 2005 when a change of government took place. He served earlier as the deputy

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. While in that position, Rotfeld established the Warsaw Reflection Group on the UN Reform and the Transformation of the Euro-Atlantic Security Institutions, with participation from leading US and European experts and politicians. From 1991 to 2002, he served as Director of the

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade a ...

(SIPRI) and in 1989–1991 project leader on Building a Cooperative Security System in and for Europe at SIPRI.

Life

Rotfeld was born on 4 March 1938, in Przemyślany, near

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(now Lviv,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). He survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

in the Univ Lavra, a monastery of the

Studite Brethren The Ukrainian Studites (), formally the Monks of the Studite Rule (; ; abbreviated MSU) are a monastic order of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. History The Studite rule was developed at the Stoudios monastery of Constantinople, from the 5 ...

. During the war he was among people who received the Paraguayan citizenship certificate issued by Ładoś Group. Rotfeld was married to Barbara Sikorska-Rotfeld (died in 2006) and has one daughter, Alicja, born in 1971. Rotfeld studied international law and diplomacy in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(1955–1960). He wrote his PhD dissertation on the right of self-determination of people in modern international law at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

which he defended in 1969. Later,

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

on European Security in ''Statu Nascendi''. He was appointed professor at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

by the President of Poland in 2001.

Professional activities

From 1961, Rotfeld worked as a researcher at the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM, the acronym formed from the Polish name). He was a member of the UN Secretary General Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters from 2006 to 2011, and its chair in 2008; member of the NATO Expert Group on the New Strategic Concept of Alliance (2009–2010), and since 2010 Commissioner of the Euro-Atlantic Security Commission, member of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). After 1989, he has served as leader of the Project on Building a Co–operative Security System in and for Europe at the

(SIPRI). He was appointed as Director of SIPRI from 1 July 1991 and re–elected in 1996 for a second term, lasting until June 2002. He is a member of many consultative bodies and scientific councils, including the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is co-chairman of Polish-Russian Group on Difficult Matters. He has participated in many multilateral negotiations and conferences on security and arms control.

Publications

Rotfeld has published and edited more than 20 monographs and over 400 articles. His work initially focused on the legal and political aspect of relations between Germany and Central and East European states after World War II (recognition of borders, the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

and the right of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

) and multilateral process of security and cooperation in Europe initiated by the

Helsinki Accords The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...

, as well as arms control and non-proliferation. After the end of the cold war he co-edited the volume ''Germany and Europe in Transition'' (OUP 1991) with Walther Stützle. Since then his publications have mainly focused on human rights, cooperative security, CSBMs, multilateral security structures (

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, EU,

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

(OSCE)) and the political and legal structures of the security system in Europe. He was editor of the ''SIPRI Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security'' from 1991 to 2002. He has written more than 20 chapters on global and regional security systems and European and transatlantic security structures for the SIPRI Yearbook. He initiated the Warsaw Reflection Group (2004) and chaired the series of reports on the UN reform, multilateral European security institutions and on arms control, non-proliferation and denuclearization.

Appointments

In his capacity as Director of SIPRI, he was appointed in 1992 as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office to elaborate the political settlement of the conflict in the Trans–Dniester region of

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

; the recommended basic principles for the political solution of the conflict in his report were approved by the OSCE Council of Ministers and conflicting parties. Since 2001, he has been a member of the President of Poland's National Security Council. He became Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA, Warsaw) in November 2001; in June 2003 he was appointed Secretary of State and served as Minister of Foreign Affairs between January 2005 and November 2005. Since 2006, he has been a member of the UN Secretary-General's on Disarmament Matters (chaired 2008). Since 2008, former Foreign Minister Rotfeld has been Co-Chairing the Polish-Russian Group For Difficult Issues, in particular the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

, together with Rector of the

Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an higher education, institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian ...

(University), Anatoly V. Torkunov.

Memberships

He is a member of different academies and boards: the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (appointed in 1996); the Governing Board of the Hamburg Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

(IFSH, appointed in 1995); the of Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF, appointed in 2001); Geneva Security Policy Centre (2003), and many other research centres. He has been a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations since 2009. Since March 2011, he has been professor at the Warsaw University Institute of Interdisciplinary Research (Collegium Artes Liberales). He has lectured at many universities and academic institutions in Europe, the United States, Russia, China and Japan. As former Polish minister for integration, in 2012 signed the Soros' open letter calling for more Europe in the single currency turmoil. He serves as a member of the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

's Panel of Eminent Persons.

Awards and honours

Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – 2010 The Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta – 2005 Bene Merito Honorary Badge – 2009 Polish-Ukrainian Reconciliation Award – 2007 Honorary Doctorate in National Defense, University of Warsaw – 2013

References

External links

Prof. dr hab. Adam Daniel Rotfeld at Nauka Polska

Adam Daniel Rotfeld, ''Wspomnienia. Tyle pamiętam''
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Polityka ''Polityka'' (, ''Politics'') is a centre-left weekly news magazine in Poland. It had a circulation of 95,300 during 2021. ''Polityka'' has a slightly intellectual, socially liberal profile, setting it apart from the more conservative ''Wprost ...

" Nr 7 (2491)/2005 * Polish-Russian Group For Difficult Issues, in particular

, co-Chaired by Rector of the

(University) – Anatoly V. Torkunov and former Poland's Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld �
12 April 2011
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23 February 2011
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29 January 2009
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotfeld, Adam Daniel 1938 births Living people People from Peremyshliany Polish Holocaust survivors Ładoś List Jewish Ukrainian politicians Jewish Polish politicians Jagiellonian University alumni Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Ministers of foreign affairs of Poland Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences