A DIVIDED Poland remembered yesterday the plane crash a year ago that killed then president Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in western Russia.
At 8.41am yesterday, sirens wailed across Poland, marking the moment a year ago when a government Tupolev Tu-154M crashed in thick fog killing Mr Kaczynski, his wife Maria and leading military and political figures.
The delegation was flying to Smolensk for ceremonies to mark the 70th anniversary of the mass execution of 22,000 Polish prisoners of war by the Red Army in nearby Katyn forest.
Yesterday’s events were overshadowed by reports that a Polish-language plaque in Smolensk recalling the visit to the genocide site had been replaced on Saturday by Russian authorities with a second plaque that made no mention of the Katyn massacre.
“I am shocked by this incident,” said Malgorzata Szmajdzinska, widow of a leading Polish politician who died a year ago. “This incident has undermined Russian credibility.”
Mr Kaczynski and other supporters of the late president boycotted an official service at Warsaw’s Powazki military cemetery, attended by prime minister Donald Tusk, president Bronislaw Komorowski and many relatives of the aircraft crash near an airstrip in Smolensk.
“A year has passed since the world collapsed for many of us, for many of you present here,” said Mr Komorowski in a speech pleading for national unity.
“The most beautiful monument that could be erected would be a monument of community and the recognition that we still have a great deal to do in memory of those who have gone on to their reward.”
A year on, emotions are still running high about the Polish national tragedy. A Russian investigation into the crash made matters worse by pinning blame for it solely on the Polish side.
The report, criticised as one-sided by the Polish authorities, confirmed the suspicions of Mr Kaczynski and his supporters of a cover-up.
“We will spare no effort to make sure that the truth is revealed, no matter what it is and whom it hurts,” said Mr Kaczynski to hundreds of supporters bearing Polish flags as well as flags of the Solidarity movement in which the Kaczynski twins were once active.
“We want the truth. Without the truth we won’t be a nation commanding respect,” he said, using the anniversary to announce a new “Lech Kaczynski movement”, which he described as a “depository” of his brother’s “ideological legacy”.
The organisation will, he said, lobby for further investigation into the Smolensk tragedy and “draw inspiration from Christianity and the achievements of the Solidarity movement”.
Analysts and political opponents of Kaczynski criticised the move as an attempt to link Smolensk to Solidarity and use nationalist feeling for political gain in the autumn general election.
“Most people have a rather sceptical view of the way that this disaster has been played out in political life and the way the investigation has been politicised,” said Jacek Kucharczyk of the Institute for Public Affairs. “For some it has become an instrument to get back into government.”