Political war has broken out over new president's plan to move symbolic cross, writes Zuzanna Redain Warsaw
THE SUPPORTERS of Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party are keeping a night and day vigil to try to prevent the removal of a cross from in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw.
The cross was placed there during a week of mourning to commemorate 96 victims of the presidential plane crash last April.
The row began last week when Bronislaw Komorowski, who was elected president on July 4th, suggested the cross should be moved to a more suitable place, such as a cemetery or church.
It has become the centre of a political war that seems to mark the beginning of the PiS campaign for the parliamentary elections due in autumn next year.
According to Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of PiS and brother of the Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in the crash: “If Komorowski removes the cross he will eventually confirm the kind of person he is.”
This comment may also reflect Mr Kaczynski’s disappointment after losing the July presidential elections.
The cross, which was supposed to unite the nation after the tragedy, has become a symbol of division. Daily, dozens of people gather in front of the palace to engage in endless quarrels; the mainly elderly defenders of the cross claim it is a patriotic symbol, while opponents say a public space should not be converted into a religious one.
“The cross must stay to commemorate the president and his wife who gave their lives for Poland,” says one woman at the palace. A passerby stops. “What kind of absurdity is this? It was an accident. A tragic one, but they are not heroes!”
But the old lady who comes here to say prayers, light candles, and look after the cross every day since the crash seems resistant to these arguments. She asks to be described as the president’s carer. Every night several people spend the night here, insisting the cross should not removed until a memorial is built. This might take more than a year.
The pavement around the cross is covered in leaflets claiming that the prime minister, Donald Tusk, has “blood on his hands”, and that the Russians were responsible for “luring the president into a Smolensk trap”.
“This is as ridiculous as when PiS supporters were blaming the Russians for causing the Icelandic volcano eruption in order to stop Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy or Angela Merkel from attending the burial ceremony of Kaczynski,” says businessman Marian Dworznicki. “On what basis do they demand the placement of a cross in a public space of a secular country? I could ask to put a horseshoe in front of the palace as it could bring good luck to our nation,” he adds.
Some PiS supporters compare the present situation to the 1950s when the communists were fighting against any expression of religiosity. However, Mr Komorowski’s anti-communist credentials are impeccable – he fought for Polish democracy in the 1980s and was arrested by the regime, something never experienced by either of the Kaczynski brothers.
“I was deeply touched after the crash when the Polish nation was finally united . . . we were praying together in front of the palace. Now everything is back to normal: the hatred, the rows, the accusations. PiS and its supporters are destroying Poland. One can keep the mourning in his heart; there is no place for it in public life,” says Sebastian Zwan, in front of the palace.
One of the defenders of the cross asks: “And what about all the Polish in Ireland? It’s their patriotic duty to come here and help us to fight for the cross.” This seems improbable, as 78 per cent of the Polish community in Ireland voted for Komorowski.
Poland is also coming to terms with the fact that in the latest analyses, the black boxes aboard Lech Kaczynski’s doomed aircraft indicate the pilots decided to land under pressure from prominent people on board. One pilot can be heard saying: “We don’t have another option; if we don’t land they will kill us.”