Career
He is the brother of Aleksander Smolar who is the head of the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw. He was imprisoned during his university studies in 1968 and 1969 for participating in student demonstrations protesting the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. In 1970, Smolar emigrated from Poland to Sweden and was involved in creating and publishing a political quarterly, Aneks.
He was involved in organizing aid for the Polish opposition and the Solidarity (Polish trade union) movement.
He later became a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation and was the director of the British Broadcasting Corporation Polish Section between 1988 and 1997. Between 2005 to 2009 he was the President of the Centre of International Relations in Warsaw.