Truth rises from Poland’s tragedy

Norman Davies: Last week’s plane crash has brought an ignored nation and a harrowing episode in its history to world attention

...Nonetheless, several good things may come from the disaster. Poland, so often ignored, has found its way onto the lips of the world. The gathering of leaders at today’s funeral will do more than 20 years of dogged diplomacy. Its government, relatively unscathed, is functioning normally. And the meaning of Katyn will be pondered by millions who previously had never heard of it.

Katyn is the supreme symbol of honesty in European history. It is far from being the largest of European atrocities. But it is the test of whether people are prepared to face their denial, to bear the pain and to tell the truth. It is the archetype of all the many tragedies of the second world war that never reach the headlines but whose absence distorts our understanding.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7100800.ece

100,000 in Warsaw Mourn Dead Polish President

Sirens wailed and church bells rang as an estimated 100,000 people gathered in the Polish capital to say goodbye to their former president.

Many filed into Warsaw's Pilsudski Square carrying red and white Polish flags with black ribbons to mourn President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 other people, including many top officials, killed in last Saturday's plane crash in Russia.

Interim President Bronislaw Komorowski told the crowd that with the accident, their world came "crashing down."

Read more: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Poland-Holds-Memorial-Service-for-Plane-Crash-Victims-91202234.html

Poles draw strength from tragic past

Although in mourning for the loss of life in the Russian air disaster, young Poles are philosophical about Poland's ability to pull through this crisis.

It was late in the evening, but in a scruffy building in south-west Warsaw, groups of young people - some holding babies - were huddled in urgent meetings.

Polish scouts from the local district organisation were preparing for another day of national mourning. I had noticed them since the weekend of the fatal crash.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8625509.stm

Volcanic ash cloud forces Harper, Obama to cancel trip to Poland

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the leaders of all three opposition parties were forced to cancel their trip to Poland to attend Sunday's state funeral for the country's late president because of the expanding cloud of volcanic ash hovering over much of Europe.

Hours after Canadian leaders called off their trip Saturday morning, U.S. President Barack Obama made a similar announcement.

"Given the dangers of flying through volcanic ash, it is simply not possible. We've been advised that the dangers are real and for security purposes obviously it remains impossible for the prime minister to be able to travel there," said Dimitri Soudas, Harper's director of communications.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/cloud+forces+Harper+Obama+cancel+trip+Poland/2920144/story.html#ixzz0lOa54Hs0

Volcano ash may disrupt Polish president's funeral

A spreading cloud of volcanic ash emanating from Iceland is threatening to derail the funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, on Sunday in Krakow.

The volcanic ash has disrupted European air travel and forced Poland to close most of its airspace on Friday.

As a result, it is unclear whether state leaders planning to attend the funerals will make it.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/04/16/poland-funeral-iceland-delays.html#ixzz0lMNN1wIk

After the crash

WARSAW's candles are short and thick, and protected from the wind by little lanterns made of red or yellow glass. Each evening, thousands of them are left outside the presidential palace. The visual effect is of a sea of lava. On a chilly spring night they create a warm breeze that welcomes pedestrians on Krakowskie Przedmiescie, one of the city's main thoroughfares. Thousands have walked here to add their flame: second world war veterans in uniform; young career women in heels and suits; tattooed, thick-necked heavies in leather jackets; children being taught history by their fathers; angelic nuns, in spectacular clothing; punks.

Conversation turns to the foreign reaction to the crash. “Obama, Prince Charles, Merkel and Sarkozy are coming to Krakow,” says one gentleman to his friend. Receiving sympathy from international statesmen matters to Poles, who feel that throughout history they have been let down and even betrayed by the West. Passengers within earshot murmur their approval. “No they won’t,” butts in a teenager. “Didn’t you hear about the volcano in Iceland? The ash is going to stop them.” The youngsters laugh at the mayhem in the adult world. Older passengers can’t believe the unhappy coincidences taking place. “What a curse,” says an old lady. “God is angry.”

Read more: http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15927501&source=hptextfeature

Kaczynski family wants state funeral held Sunday

The family of late President Lech Kaczynski has urged that his state funeral be held Sunday in Krakow as planned, despite fears that a volcanic ash cloud emanating from Iceland may keep some world leaders from attending.

"It is the will of the family that, under no circumstance, the date of the funeral be changed," Presidential Palace spokesman Jacek Sasin said on the family's behalf.

A national memorial service will be held Saturday at 12 p.m. (1000 GMT) in Pilsudski Square in Warsaw, followed by a Mass at St. John's Cathedral at 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) for the first couple.

Sunday's state funeral in mostly Roman Catholic Poland will begin at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) with a Mass at the 13th-century St. Mary's Basilica. The bodies of the first couple will then be carried in a funeral procession across the Old Town and to the historic Wawel Cathedral, where they will be interred.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/16/poland-closes-air-space-volcanic-ash/

Polish funeral to go ahead despite ash cloud

"I wish to say that the (Kaczynski) family's will is that the date of the funeral should not be postponed under any circumstances," presidential aide Jacek Sasin told reporters.

As well as Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkoy and Britain's Prince Charles are among dignitaries from an estimated 96 countries expected to attend the funeral.

Krakow's Balice airport, due to handle most arrivals, shut down on Friday because of the volcanic ash cloud, which has caused air traffic disruption across northern Europe on a scale not seen since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

The decision to bury the Kaczynskis at Wawel, usually reserved for Poland's kings and national heroes, was already controversial. Some Poles believe Kaczynski does not deserve such an honour and have staged noisy protests against the move.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Polish+airport+shuts+down+before+Kaczynski+funeral/2914497/story.html

Polish air crash: pilots made one last broadcast as plane went down

The crew of the aircraft carrying the Polish president managed to broadcast one final message before the plane plunged into woodland killing all 96 on board, the first analysis of black boxes shows.

Investigators disclosed that the pilots were aware they could do nothing to prevent their demise.

"On the basis of the data in the possession of prosecutors one could say that the crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe," said Andrzej Seremet, Poland's chief prosecutor. He added that the passengers probably remained oblivious to the danger until the very last second.

Investigators believe that as the aircraft approached Smolensk airport just a few metres off the ground its left wing was sheared off by a tall tree, and pictures taken near the crash site showing a tree cut in half appear to corroborate this.

Minus a wing, the stricken aircraft rolled to its left before slamming into the ground roof first and breaking into pieces. Experts estimate that only three to five seconds elapsed between hitting the tree and the plan's destruction.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/7594165/Polish-air-crash-pilots-made-one-last-broadcast-as-plane-went-down.html

Volcano ash

Germany and Poland closed most of their airports early on Friday and the no-flight zone now extends to Austria in the south and Lithuania in the east.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8624929.stm

Smolensk Airport -The Polish Presidents Last Kilometer

Russian pictures of the Polish Presidents last kilometer from Poland to the Smolensk Airport show the sequence of collisions with trees as the plane descended to its final resting place.

There is a large picture of the Smolensk Russia crash site below that you can see by clicking on the image. For your convenience it will open in a new window.

Read more: http://www.masterpage.com.pl/outlook/201004/smolensk-last-kilometer.html

Iceland's volcanic ash halts flights across Europe

It was unclear whether the ash cloud would affect the arrival of President Barack Obama and other world leaders planning to attend the state funeral Sunday of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash. Polish authorities banned flights over part of northwestern Poland late Thursday, the country's PAP news agency reported. The funeral is to be held in Krakow, in southeastern Poland.

The Icelandic plume lies above the Atlantic Ocean close to the flight paths for most routes from the U.S. East Coast to Europe, and over northern Europe itself.

Meteorologists from the AccuWeather forecasting service in the U.S. said the current ash plume will threaten air travel over Europe through Sunday at the least. Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said the problem might persist for weeks, depending on how much wind carries the ash.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/15/icelands-volcanic-ash-halts-flights-europe-137061971/

Body of exiled Polish leader returns to Warsaw

Hundreds of Poles gathered in grief at Warsaw's airport Thursday for two state ceremonies honoring 35 more victims of the plane crash in Russia, among them the last man who led Poland's government in exile when the country was ruled by communists.

A military plane traveled from Russia with the body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, whose casket was draped in the white-and-red Polish flag, and laid out on the tarmac flanked by a saber-bearing honor guard. His widow and daughters, dressed in black, wept at his coffin and kissed it.

Kaczorowski, who headed the exile government from London shortly before communism's demise in Poland, was among the 96 people killed in a plane crash last Saturday in western Russia en route to ceremonies to honor Polish victims of the World War II Katyn massacres of Polish officers by the forerunner of the Soviet secret police. He was 90.

His body was driven in a black hearse to lie in state in Warsaw's Belvedere palace until a funeral is held for him on Monday. The exiled leadership was established during the Nazi occupation of Poland and continued to declare itself the rightful government during the decades of communism, until Lech Walesa became Poland's first popularly elected president in 1990.

Read More: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/15/poland-tackles-security-challenge-state-funeral/

Obama's Poland trip still on, but watching ash

US President Barack Obama is keeping his plans to fly to Poland for the funeral of president Lech Kaczynski despite a huge volcanic ash cloud over northern Europe, the White House said Thursday.

"It's something that we are keeping an eye on," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters aboard the presidential jet Air Force One, which was carrying Obama to Florida for a speech.

"Right now our schedule is still on. We have every intention of making it to Poland," Burton added.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j3fXCfZ78hNjKi24tOGFfQ7yHhaw

Stephen Harper travelling to Poland

Dear Friends,

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited all three Opposition leaders to accompany him to the State Funeral for Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland; Maria Kaczynska, First Lady of Poland; and the Polish political, military and civil leaders killed in a plane crash on Saturday.

All three leaders have accepted the Prime Minister's invitation.

Le Premier ministre Stephen Harper a invité les trois chefs de l'opposition à l'accompagner aux funérailles nationales du président Lech Kaczynski, de la première dame Maria Kaczynska, et de dirigeants politiques, militaires et civils polonais décédés samedi dans un écrasement d'avion.

Les trois chefs ont accepté l'invitation du Premier ministre.

Best Regards,
 
J____ C_________
Regional Communications Advisor
Office of the Prime Minister

Body of exiled Polish leader returns to Warsaw

Hundreds of Poles gathered in grief at Warsaw's airport Thursday for a state ceremony honoring another victim of the plane crash in Russia: the official who led Poland's government in exile when the country was ruled by communists.

A military plane traveled from Russia with the body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, who headed the country's government in exile in London shortly before communism's demise in Poland.

His casket was draped in the red-and-white Polish flag, flanked by a sabre-bearing honor guard. His widow and daughters, dressed in black, wept at his coffin and kissed it.

Kaczorowski was among the 96 people killed in a plane crash last Saturday in western Russia en route to ceremonies to honor Polish victims of the World War II Katyn massacres of Polish officers by the forerunner of the Soviet secret police. He was 90.

His body was driven in a black hearse to lie in state in Warsaw's Belvedere palace until a state funeral this weekend.

The exiled leadership was established during the Nazi occupation of Poland and continued to declare itself the rightful government during the decades of communism, until Lech Walesa became Poland's first popularly elected president in 1990. It was not legally recognized, but played a symbolic role in keeping alive the hopes of one day throwing off Soviet-imposed communist rule.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5HRIwocn5cLZn75suY8xsI5-1bgD9F3GRA80

From Poland's Tragedy, Hope (By Zbigniew Brzezinski)

For decades the word Katyn, for the Poles, has stood for an unspeakable crime as well as tragedy. Henceforth, it will stand also for an additional national disaster — but perhaps also for hope.

In the past, Katyn signified mass murder committed in 1940 in a forest just west of the Russian town of Smolensk by troops of the Soviet Union, who killed defenseless Polish prisoners of war. The victims of the atrocity accounted for much of Poland's military as well as intellectual elite. The second Katyn tragedy — the April 10 crash on the approach to Smolensk airport of a plane carrying dignitaries to a ceremony commemorating that very 1940 massacre — led to the death of nearly 100 of the top political personalities of a newly independent, and once again democratic, Poland. Those who died on this modern pilgrimage of peace included Poland's President, Lech Kaczynski.

(See pictures of Poland's days of mourning.)

And yet it is possible that future historians will see in these combined events — and especially in the consequence of the second one — the beginning of a truly significant turning point in Polish-Russian relations. Should that come to pass, it would represent a geopolitical change in Europe of genuinely historic proportions.
(Read more about the Polish-Russian relations.)

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1981930,00.html#ixzz0lAOfoRZH

Pilot recordings before Polish crash 'were dramatic'

Experts have examined two of three black boxes in the probe into what caused the plane crash that killed Poland's president and 94 other people, a Polish military prosecutor said.

The third black box recorded the conversation between the pilots.

"Experts are now trying to understand the words spoken during the last half hour of the flight," Col. Zbigniew Rzepa said.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Pilot+recordings+before+Polish+crash+were+dramatic/2908689/story.html#ixzz0lALiRECb

In Memoriam: Lech Kaczynski

The death of Poland's president carries a terrible echo of his country's past

HE WAS a figure from another age. Weekend guests at Lech Kaczynski’s presidential retreat on Poland’s Baltic coast often found the conversation turning to the opposition politics of 1970s Gdansk.

That is indeed a fascinating subject, though not necessarily the most burning one for the head of state of eastern Europe’s most important country nearly 40 years later. Mr Kaczynski, who died along with 95 others, including many of Poland’s military and political elite, in a plane crash in Russia on April 10th, epitomised some of the best and the worst features of Polish politics.

Read more: http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15891381

Tragedy in Smolensk

POLAND’S awful history makes it no stranger to tragedy, grief and shock. But not for decades has it suffered a trauma such as the death of President Lech Kaczynski, along with dozens of other senior Polish politicians and officials, in an air crash on April 10th.

The presidential plane was carrying a delegation to Katyn, to commemorate the mass murder of a previous Polish elite: the 20,000 reservist officers murdered by Stalin’s NKVD in 1940.

The symbolism of the tragedy to many Poles is almost unbearable. In 1943 General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the leader of the Polish wartime government, died in a plane crash in Gibraltar. No foul play was proved there, but many Poles believe that he was murdered because of his resolute determination to expose the Katyn massacre—which the Soviet Union blamed on the Germans. Now another Polish president, closely involved in the same issue, has died in an all too similar manner.

Polish historical sensitivies about Russia mean that many see the coincidence as sinister rather than tragic. But the plane tried to land four times, in bad weather. Accident is the overwhelmingly likely cause.

Read more: http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15886654

As Poland Mourns, Leaders Ponder New Election

Polish leaders have decided to wait until after Sunday's state funeral for President Lech Kaczynski to decide when to hold an early election to replace him.

Polish leaders have decided to wait until after Sunday's state funeral for President Lech Kaczynski to decide when to hold an early election to replace him. But officials said June 20 now appears all but certain to be the date.

Komorowski said party leaders in parliament held consultations Wednesday and decided to wait with an announcement, given that two presidential candidates were killed, Kaczynski and Jerzy Szmajdzinski, a long-serving lawmaker and respected former defense minister who was to have represented the Democratic Left Alliance.

The most likely date for balloting appears to be June 20 because of a timeline dictated by the constitution.

"If the date is not announced by Monday, then the elections will be held on June 20, according to the regulations," said Lech Czapla, who oversees parliament's administrative issues.

A second round would be held two weeks later if no candidate musters at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round.

Though the country remains in deep mourning, Komorowski's remarks show that officials were returning to day-to-day business of running the country. There was even a willingness to grapple with contentious issues.

There is a growing debate about whether Kaczynski and his wife should be interred at the 1,000-year-old Wawel Cathedral - the main burial site of Polish monarchs since the 14th century and more recent heroes, including the 20th-century Polish statesman and military leader Jozef Pilsudski

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/14/poland-mourns-leaders-ponder-new-election/

Dynamism and tragedy

The crash of a Polish military aircraft in Russia on Saturday served, in one terrible moment, to extinguish much of Poland’s civil and military leadership. Among the dead are the country’s President, Lech Kaczynski, the chief of the general staff of the Polish Armed Forces, the head of Poland’s central bank, the head of the Polish Olympics Committee, and many other representatives of Poland’s elite. There was an awful poignancy in the fact that the officials were travelling to Russia in order to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre of Polish officers by the Soviet Union. This is a moment of darkness for Poland, a country that has emerged from the shambles of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe to become a shining European power. For all the mourning, however, it is important to recognize that even a blow of this magnitude will not slow the country’s progress.

Political scientist George Friedman, founder of Stratfor, a U.S. strategic and tactical intelligence company, has for several years been predicting that Poland will emerge as a “great power” in the 21st century. It might seem far-fetched, except when one considers how far Poland has already come in the past two decades, building up its democratic institutions, constructing an army capable of meaningful contributions in far-off places like Afghanistan and Iraq, forging a distinctive voice in the EU, and along the way fostering a dynamic economy that is among the world’s 20 largest.

Poland’s performance during the global recession eclipsed its neighbours, particularly the other former Soviet satellites, growing by 5 per cent in 2008, and by another 1.7 per cent last year. In contrast, no other EU economy grew at all last year. Its banks are stable. The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, who was not on the aircraft, is a champion of the free market, seeking to lower taxes and reduce bureaucracy. His government aims to raise about $10-billion from sales of public assets. Little wonder that growth predictions abound.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/e-poland-john-13/article1532200/

Prince Charles due at Poland's Lech Kaczynski funeral

The Prince of Wales will join global leaders at the event being held in the southern city of Krakow on Sunday.

Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were "shocked and deeply upset" at the deaths of Mr and Mrs Kaczynski, whom they met recently, Clarence House said.

The prince and and his wife visited Poland four weeks ago and stayed as guests of the Polish president and his wife.

The duchess is unable to join Charles because of a broken left leg.

However, she will visit the Polish community's cultural centre in Hammersmith, west London, to sign a book of condolence on Friday.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8621015.stm

Polish Jews mourn their president

Jewish community leaders this week paid moving tributes to the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski, describing him as a champion of the Jewish people and "a real friend of Israel".

The president played a key role in establishing Poland's new Jewish museum, set to open in Warsaw in 2012. He was also the first Polish leader to attend a synagogue, where he lit a Chanukah candle.

Rabbi Shalom Stambler of Warsaw knew Kaczynski personally. He told the Jewish News: "The president visited Israel three times while in office. In any global-political crisis in which Israel was involved, he was always with Israel, no matter what."

Read more: http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/c-13828/polish-jews-mourn-their-president/

Polish Interim President to Set Election Date Next Week

Polish interim President Bronislaw Komorowski says the date for Poland's presidential election will be announced next week, after the state funeral for the late head of state Lech Kaczynski.
The announcement Wednesday comes as Poland prepares for a memorial service for Mr. Kaczynski, his wife, Maria and a host of Polish dignitaries killed last week in a plane crash.
An editorial Wednesday in the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper said the decision to bury Mr. Kacszynski at Wawel Cathedral alongside independence hero Jozef Pilsudski and other Polish icons was "hasty and emotional" and could divide the country.
Rad more:http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Polish-Election-Date-to-Announced-After-State-Funeral--90834524.html

Transitions The unlikely triumph of Polish democracy.

One of the worst days for Poland is rapidly becoming one of its greatest.

The country's president, its armed forces' chiefs of staff, and its National Bank President, along with many more high state officials--the core members of Poland's governing elite--lost their lives on Saturday morning. Much of the media attention has been on the destination of the presidential visit: the commemoration of the Katyn massacre in 1940. On Stalin’s orders the Soviet NKVD executed nearly 20,000 Polish Army officers (who were also key members of the educational, professional, and administrative elite). The Soviets long denied their responsibility for the massacres, and the issue had long been a major obstacle in Polish-Russian relations. And just as these relations were experiencing a period of warming and mutual concessions, Katyn has claimed more Polish losses. In an obscene irony, family members of Katyn victims were among those killed Saturday, as was Anna Walentynowicz, the crane operator whose firing led to the mobilization of Solidarity in 1980, and the eventual collapse of the communist regime in Poland in 1989. This has led to rampant speculation as to the effect of the crash on Polish-Russian relations (see here, here, and here).

Read more: http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/transitions?id=5m6QTcIKeMmXQn/jO+BjvH5XHU+6ljfY5FRRhZHi+eCd8CFT+1MMePm7Xe/jUNPb

Anna Walentynowicz of Poland's Solidarity movement dies at 80

Anna Walentynowicz, a shipyard worker whose firing made her a central figure in Poland's Solidarity movement, which broke the communist grip on the country in the 1980s, died April 10 in the airplane crash near Smolensk, Russia, that also claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and other top Polish officials. She was 80.

Ms. Walentynowicz became a heroic symbol of freedom in her homeland after she was dismissed from her job at the Gdansk shipyard in August 1980, just five months before she was scheduled to retire. She had been harassed for years by authorities, who considered her a troublemaker for launching an underground newspaper and helping organize the budding Solidarity movement in the 1970s.

Her firing prompted a strike at the shipyard and the spread of the Solidarity movement, which quickly attracted millions of followers across Poland. It was the first successful labor revolt in a communist country and resulted, less than a decade later, in the downfall of Poland's communist regime.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/13/AR2010041304387.html

Poland’s Unity Is Disrupted by Plans for President’s Interment

Public discontent erupted on Tuesday for the first time in the grievous aftermath of the plane crash that claimed the lives of Poland’s president and dozens of top politicians and military leaders, as hundreds of people in Krakow protested the decision to inter the president and his wife in a crypt holding the remains of many Polish kings.

Opposition was building over the plan to lay President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, to rest in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, which also holds the remains of leading historical figures like Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, the post-World War I leader of Poland, and Gen. Wladyslaw Sikorski, leader of the government-in-exile during World War II.

Those opposed to placing the often divisive Mr. Kaczynski in such august company demonstrated Tuesday night outside the Palace of Bishops, the seat of the Krakow curia. Witnesses at the protest said they were chanting “Krakow, say no!” and holding signs reading, “Is he fit to be a king?”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/world/europe/14poland.html

Harper to attend state funeral for Polish president

Obama, Sarkozy also expected to travel to Krakow to remember Kaczynski, first lady who were killed in plane crash

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will join other world leaders in Krakow this weekend to attend a state funeral for Polish President Lech Kaczynski and first lady Maria Kaczynska.

U.S. President Barack Obama will also be among the world leaders on hand for Sunday's funeral.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy will attend as well, Agence France-Press reported Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/harper-to-attend-state-funeral-for-polish-president/article1533360/

Obama Will Travel to Poland for Kaczynski’s Funeral

President Barack Obama will travel to Poland for the April 18 funeral of President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in an April 10 plane crash, the White House announced.

Obama’s trip to Krakow will “express the depth of our condolences to an important and trusted ally, and our support for the Polish people,” a White House statement said.

The group, which included Poland’s first lady Maria Kaczynska, was flying to a ceremony to commemorate the execution of thousands of Polish military officers, policeman and other officials by Soviet secret police during World War II.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-13/obama-will-travel-to-poland-for-kaczynski-s-funeral-update1-.html

The Glory of Poland

My first thought, hearing of the Polish tragedy, was that history’s gyre can be of an unbearable cruelty, decapitating Poland’s elite twice in the same cursed place, Katyn.

My second was to call my old friend Adam Michnik in Warsaw. Michnik, an intellectual imprisoned six times by the former puppet-Soviet Communist rulers, once told me:

“Anyone who has suffered that humiliation, at some level, wants revenge. I know all the lies. I saw people being killed. But I also know that revanchism is never ending. And my obsession has been that we should have a revolution that does not resemble the French or Russian, but rather the American, in the sense that it be for something, not against something. A revolution for a constitution, not a paradise. An anti-utopian revolution. Because utopias lead to the guillotine and the gulag.”

Michnik’s obsession has yielded fruit. President Lech Kaczynski is dead. Slawomir Skrzypek, the president of the National Bank, is dead. An explosion in the fog of the forest took them and 94 others on the way to Katyn. But Poland’s democracy has scarcely skipped a beat. The leader of the lower house of Parliament has become acting president pending an election. The first deputy president of the National Bank has assumed the duties of the late president. Poland, oft dismembered, even wiped from the map, is calm and at peace.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/opinion/13iht-edcohen.html?emc=eta1

Q&A: What's next for Polish central bank after governor's death?

Following is analysis of issues surrounding the appointment of Skrzypek's successor and possible policy changes at the central bank.

HOW AND WHEN WILL A SUCCESSOR BE APPOINTED?

The Polish constitution stipulates that the governor is appointed by the president for a six-year term, but his candidacy needs to be approved by parliament. Skrzypek was mid-way through his term.

But Kaczynski's death clouds the process; the law does not clearly indicate whether Parliamentary Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, who has taken over as acting president, can make the appointment before the presidential election that he must call within 14 days and hold within two months after that.

The central bank law requires that a new governor be appointed within three months of a vacancy, which would leave hardly any time after the election. Some analysts say that in order to signal stability at the central bank, the appointment could be made before the election if parliament reaches a consensus on a candidate.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63A1MR20100412

Polish army faces uncertainty after commanders die

The loss of Poland's top military commanders in a plane crash raises questions over its mission in Afghanistan and the NATO ally's drive to modernise the armed forces.

The chief of the General Staff and the heads of the army, navy and air forces were among the 96 people including President Lech Kaczynski, to perish when their Tupolev TU-154 aircraft crashed as it tried to land in western Russia.

"This is the greatest tragedy in the history of the Polish armed forces," Stanislaw Koziej, a retired general and former defence minister, told Reuters.

"There has never been such a case where the top command of the army and its commander-in-chief (Kacynski) all died at the same time."

The crash coincides with the dispatch of an additional 600 troops to reinforce Poland's 2,000-strong contingent in the NATO mission in Afghanistan and with reforms aimed at modernising the military after a decision to scrap conscription.


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Polish+army+faces+uncertainty/2791629/story.html#ixzz0kzsJNTdp

Poland's president to be buried Sunday in Krakow

Poland's president and first lady will be buried Sunday in a state funeral in Krakow's Wawel Cathedral, the historic resting place of the country's kings and former leaders, officials said.

Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Maria Kaczynska, were among 96 people killed Saturday in a plane crash in Western Russia. Investigators are pointing at human error as the cause.

Stanislaw Kracik, Krakow province governor, said the presidential couple will receive a funeral at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) Sunday in the 1,000-year-old cathedral — the main burial site of Polish monarchs since the 14th century.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h5HRIwocn5cLZn75suY8xsI5-1bgD9F269184

'Be not afraid' -- Poland will persevere

As 37.8 million Poles in the homeland and 18 million in the diaspora around the world mourn the immense tragedy that has befallen them, may they seek inspiration in the first words of the Polish national anthem -- "Poland has not perished." May freedom-loving people everywhere also join them in this difficult hour.

If any nation has the wherewithal to weather such vicious turns of fate, it is the Poles.

Throughout recent history, Poland has steadfastly remained a bulwark of resistance and a symbol of hope against the vicissitudes of tyranny and aggression, not to mention cruel misfortune.

The first nation in the world to actively and solitarily oppose the Nazi onslaught in 1939, one year later Poland was also the first among nations to fall victim of wartime genocide in the forests of Katyn and its environs.

This was another instance when Poland saw its intellectual elite -- political and military -- tragically disappear, though not through accident and in substantially greater numbers.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/afraid+Poland+will+persevere/2875963/story.html

In Toronto and Poland, memories of the Holocaust

Monday is Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Bohm will spend it visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, where she was sent as a teenager in May 1944.
This is the first time that Bohm has returned to Poland since the end of World War II. On Monday, she’ll be going to the camp with March of the Living, an international initiative led in Toronto by the United Jewish Appeal. The annual trip to Eastern Europe’s important Holocaust sites is an opportunity for young people to learn their history in the company of a survivor.
Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/793684--in-toronto-and-poland-memories-of-the-holocaust

Katyn anniversary tragedy appears to be uniting Russia and Poland

Katyn has symbolised bitter division between Poland and Russia for 70 years. Now the new tragedy associated with its name appears to have united them to an extent unprecedented since the Second World War massacre.

The outpouring of Russian sympathy for grieving Poles, at official and street levels, may have done more in 48 hours to erode mutual suspicion than any amount of diplomacy since Poland emerged from Moscow’s shadow after the collapse of the Soviet Eastern Bloc.

Poland and other states long used to regarding Russia as an aggressive bear have suddenly witnessed a more humane face of their former bête noire. After placing roses before a portrait of President Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, at the Polish Embassy, Mr Medvedev wrote in the book of condolences that the “dreadful tragedy . . . has shocked the Russian people”. He added: “The loss left an unfillable void. We are grieving together with you.”

Mr Putin’s embrace of Donald Tusk, his Polish counterpart, at the crash site has become a symbol of the new entente. He told the Russian Cabinet that the country was “grieving together with the Poles”.

Read more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7095740.ece

Polish Crash Inquiry Looks at Decision to Land

As the investigation into the crash of the Polish president’s plane continued Monday, relatives of the victims arrived in Moscow to try to identify the remains. But officials said the process may be difficult because many of the bodies were badly burned or damaged.

Investigators examining the crash appeared to be focusing on why the pilot did not heed instructions from air traffic controllers to give up trying to land in bad weather in western Russia on Saturday morning.

Their inquiry may lead to an even more delicate question: whether the pilot had felt under pressure to land to make sure that the Polish delegation would not be late for a ceremony on Saturday in the Katyn forest, where more than 20,000 Polish officers and others were massacred by the Soviets during World War II.

Officials have recovered the flight voice recorder, but on Sunday they did not release transcripts of conversations in the cockpit or the control tower. Still, attention has been drawn to the pilot’s state of mind because of a previous incident involving the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, who died along with numerous other senior Polish government and military officials in the crash.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/europe/13crash.html?src=mv

Poland's economic legacy is tribute to leaders who died on Saturday

Stalin's massacre in 1940 wounded a nation which was doomed to suffer for decades. Perhaps the greatest tribute that can be paid to Saturday's air crash victims is that they leave a strong, independent country and a sound economy, able to withstand this shocking accident.

President Lech Kaczynski and Slawomir Skrzypek, the governor of the central bank, were among the many political, military, intellectual and religious leaders killed. Bronislaw Komorowski, the parliamentary speaker, has taken over as interim president and will call an election by mid-year. Komorowski was expected to be a presidential candidate in the elections previously scheduled for October. The polls were predicting that he would defeat Kaczynski.

At the central bank, Piotr Wiesiolek, Skrzypek's deputy, has taken temporary charge. Komorowski says a new permanent governor will be appointed quickly.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7581951/Polands-economic-legacy-is-tribute-to-leaders-who-died-on-Saturday.html

Poland's acting president reassures nation in mourning

Poland's interim president, Bronislaw Komorowski, reassured his countrymen Monday that the government continues to function despite the airplane crashthat killed President Lech Kaczynski and a number of senior officials, stunning Warsaw's political elite and plunging the nation into a remarkable display of national mourning.

Komorowski said many empty government and military posts had already been filled provisionally by assistants, permitting government to continue functioning. He said he would consult with parliament members of all parties beginning Tuesday on naming a swift replacement for Slawomir Skrzypek, head of the National Bank of Poland.

The Warsaw stock market, which reopened for trading, seemed unaffected by the tragedy and closed with little change. This was taken as a sign that Poland's key economic actors have confidence in the political system's ability to absorb the shock.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/12/AR2010041202675.html

Russia points to human error in fatal Polish crash

In Warsaw, Polish Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet said Polish investigators talked to the flight controller and flight supervisor and "concluded that there were no conditions for landing."

"The tower was advising against the landing," Seremet said.

Polish investigators have not yet listened to the cockpit conversations recorded on the black boxes, but will, to see if there were "any suggestions made to the pilots" from other people aboard the plane.

Polish media reported in August 2008 that pilots flying Kaczynski to Tbilisi refused the president's order to land there because of the country's military conflict with Russia, diverting instead to Azerbaijan.

In remarks shown on Russian television, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told a government meeting including President Dmitry Medvedev that the data recorders on the plane were found to have been completely functional, which will allow a detailed analysis.

"It is reliably confirmed that warning of the unfavorable weather conditions at the North airport and recommendations to go to a reserve airport were not only transmitted but received by the crew of the plane," he said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/04/12/investigators-say-problems-polish-plane/

Kaczynski Death to Aid Pro-Euro Tusk’s Grip on Poland

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-euro Civic Platform party is likely to cement its grip on power in a presidential election that must now be held by June after President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash.

Polls taken before the April 10 accident showed Civic Platform’s candidate, Bronislaw Komorowski, was running ahead of Kaczynski and other contenders in an election originally scheduled for October. The tragedy, in Smolensk, western Russia, killed all 96 passengers on route to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet forces.

Following the crash, in which Left Democratic Alliance party candidate Jerzy Smajdzinski also died, Komorowski is left as the sole surviving contender of Poland’s three major parties. The only significant impediment to a Civic Platform victory may be the possibility of a wave of sympathy for the dead president, political commentators said, and that still probably won’t be enough to prevent Tusk extending his control over the political system.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-12/kaczynski-death-to-aid-pro-euro-tusk-s-grip-on-poland-update1-.html

Polish PM cancels visit to Canada following tragic crash

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has cancelled a trip to Canada following this weekend’s plane crash that killed the Polish president and a number of the country’s high-ranking political and military officials.
In what would have been his first visit to Canada, Tusk was set to lead a delegation of government representatives on Wednesday and Thursday in Ottawa, and discuss the Canada-Poland relationship with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, according to a new release issued Friday, a day before Saturday’s crash.
Tusk had also planned to visit Toronto, where he was to speak to the Polish-Canadian community.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Polish+cancels+visit+Canada/2788261/story.html#ixzz0ktZvc0qX