Born in 1922 in Warsaw.

In 1941-44 and 1948-49 he studied at Warsaw University's Faculty of Humanities.

During the war, from September 1940 to April 1941, he was imprisoned at the Auschwitz death camp. In 1942 he became a co-founder of the "Żegota" Council for Aid to Jews. From 1942 to 1944 he actively worked for the Catholic underground organization Front for the Rebirth of Poland (FOP). From 1942 to 1945 he worked in the Information Department of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Main Headquarters of the Polish Home Army (AK), and from 1943 to 1944 (at the same time) at the Republic of Poland's Government-in-exile Home Office Department of Internal Affairs (Prison Unit and Jewish Section). He took part in the Warsaw Uprising as a Home Army soldier, his rank being confirmed in London as a lieutenant.

After the Bartoszewski was a member of the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), then led by StanisB.aw MikoB.ajczyk, and he worked as co-editor of . Gazeta Ludowa. He was imprisoned by the communists twice, in 1946-48 and 1949-1954, and in 1955 he was recognized as unfairly victimized.

From 1963 to 1981 he was a secret Polish-based worker of Radio Free Europe; in 1973-85 he was a history lecturer at the Lublin Catholic University, and in 1972-83 he held the post of the Secretary-General of the Polish PEN. In 1978 Bartoszewski became a co-founder and lecturer of the Scientific Courses Association (TKN). In 1978-81 he was a member of the clandestine Polish Alliance for Independence.

In November 1980 he co-founded the Committee for the Defence of Those Harassed for Their Beliefs, attached to the NSZZ Solidarity National Commission. From 13th December 1981 to 28^th April 1982 he was interned at the Jaworze Internment Camp. In the years 1983-90 he lectured, as Professor of Political Sciences, in Munich, Eichstaett and Augsburg.

Since 1997 Senator, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Committee.

Bartoszewski holds the following academic titles: Professor--conferred on him by the government of Bavaria; Doctor Honoris Causa in Philosophy--conferred in 1981 by the Polish University In Exile; Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities--1984, the Baltimore Hebrew College in USA; Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities-1996, WrocB.aw University. He is author of some 40 books and over 1,000 articles, mainly concerning the history of World War II, Poland's struggle for independence, Polish-German and Polish-Jewish relations.

In 1995 he was decorated with the Order of the White Eagle. He was one of the first Poles to receive the "Righteous Among the Nations of the World" title, in Jerusalem.