Professor of Human Sciences, literary historian, philosopher, political scientist, essayist. Researcher of the life and work of Joseph Conrad. In 1976 he founded the Polish Independence Accord. In 1982–1987 director of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe; in 1983 sentenced to death in absentia. In 1990–1992 chairman of the Civic Committee. President of the Joseph Conrad Society of Poland, from 1993 president of the Weimar Club, from 2004 board member of the World War II Museum in Gdansk and the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw. He died in 2021.