2019-04-10 17:28 update: 2019-04-11, 18:48
Photo PAP/Jakub Kamiński
State ceremonies with the participation of President Andrzej Duda, Law and Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, among other officials, marked the 9th anniversary of the 2010 Smolensk air disaster.
On April 10, 2010, President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, the last President of Poland in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski and dozens of senior government officials and military commanders were killed in the air disaster near Smolensk, western Russia. The delegation was on its way to Katyń to attend events marking the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyń Massacre, during which close to 22,000 Polish POWs were murdered at the hands of the Soviets.
State ceremonies marking the anniversary, in Warsaw, included, among other observances, a Holy Mass, a reading of the names of the 96 victims in front of the Presidential Palace, and the laying of flowers at the monuments of President Lech Kaczyński and the Victims of the Smolensk 2010 Catastrophe, which are located on Piłsudski Square.
President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday laid flowers at the tomb of Poland's late President Lech Kaczyński and his wife in Kraków's historical Wawel Castle.
In his address during the ceremony, Duda stressed that the disaster victims perished while serving their country and voiced regret that they were no longer part of Poland's political scene.
"I am thankful that we emphasise this, that it is so important to us, this memory of the people who died while serving their country, in the course of fulfilling their duties towards the Polish state. It's a pity they are not with us anymore. Perhaps many matters in Poland would have taken a different, better course if these people (...) were here," Duda said.
Nine years ago, the Republic of Poland lost its best sons and daughters, who were on their way to pay homage to those murdered in Katyń, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
"The feeling of emptiness which arose in us all then cannot be put into words," he added.
On Wednesday morning, the 9th anniversary of the tragedy, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki laid flowers beneath plaques commemorating the victims of the April 10, 2010 disaster. The Prime Minister was accompanied by, among other officials, Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydło, the Plenipotentiary of the Prime Minister for International Dialogue Anna Maria Anders and government spokesperson Joanna Kopcińska.
Polish Ambassador in Russia Włodzimierz Marciniak headed the Polish delegation to Wednesday's commemorations at the Polish War Cemetery in Katyń, western Russia.
The massacre takes its name from the nearby Katyń Forest, where most of the executions took place. The Polish War Cemetery houses the graves of over 4,000 Katyń Massacre victims.
Also attending the ceremony were Polish diplomats and members of the local Polish community. Afterwards, the commemoration participants paid homage to Russian victims of Stalinist repressions.
In his address, Marciniak observed that the Katyń Massacre victims were all linked by a love of their country. He also stated that the victims of the 2010 Smoleńsk air disaster had been on their way to Katyń to commemorate the victims of the 1940 executions.
"Those who perished in 1940 in Katyń, and in Smoleńsk in 2010, differed in their religious beliefs, professions and political orientations, but were nonetheless bound by a love of their motherland (...). Quite surely we, who are gathered here, are people who also differ in religious beliefs, world-views, callings and political sympathies. But we have come to testify to the truth and to understand the tragedy of history," Marciniak said. (PAP)
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