Fourteen years ago, on April 10, 2010, a tragedy unfolded as 96 individuals, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria, the last Polish president in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, and other officials, perished in the Tu-154M plane crash near Smolensk, Russia.
President Kaczyński and the whole delegation, including prominent members of the government, the anti-communist resistance, and family members of the Katyn victims, were on their way to Katyn to honor the Polish POWs brutally murdered by the Soviets in 1940.
The journey began at Warsaw airport just before 7:30 a.m., destined for Smolensk. From there, the delegation planned to proceed by car to Katyn for the memorial ceremonies scheduled at 9:30 a.m.
However, at 8:41 a.m., the aircraft met with a tragic accident near Smolensk North Airport, claiming the lives of everybody onboard: 89 delegation members and 7 crew members.
In response to this catastrophe, a period of national mourning was immediately declared, which lasted until midnight on April 18.
On April 17, state mourning ceremonies were solemnly conducted at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw, paying tribute to the crash victims.
The following day, President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria were interred in a crypt under the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, southern Poland. Commemorative funerals for the victims of the Smolensk disaster continued until April 28, marking a period of profound loss and remembrance.
Polish officials commemorate the victims
“Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, together with the command staff of the Polish Army and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, laid wreaths in front of the plaque commemorating the victims of the Smolensk catastrophe,” Poland’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday on social media.
During World War II, the Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn massacre. This event is often cited as one of the earliest examples of Soviet war-era massacres.
The massacre occurred in 1940 in a forest in western Russia. In a matter of months, the NKVD - the Soviet secret police, executed over 22,000 Polish officers, policemen, and intellectuals who had been captured by the Soviet Union after their invasion of Poland in 1939.
Katyn was part of a larger effort by the Soviet government to weaken and control Poland by eliminating those who could potentially resist or challenge their rule in Poland. By killing off the country’s intelligentsia and leadership, the Soviet Union hoped to create a power vacuum that would make it easier for them to assert control over Poland and its people. This tragic and devastating event continues to impact Polish history today.
The Soviet Union initially blamed the massacre on the Nazis, and generations of Russian propagandists repeated the “Katyn Lie” until 1990 when the country’s government officially admitted that the NKVD had been responsible for the killings.
The journey began at Warsaw airport just before 7:30 a.m., destined for Smolensk. From there, the delegation planned to proceed by car to Katyn for the memorial ceremonies scheduled at 9:30 a.m.
However, at 8:41 a.m., the aircraft met with a tragic accident near Smolensk North Airport, claiming the lives of everybody onboard: 89 delegation members and 7 crew members.
In response to this catastrophe, a period of national mourning was immediately declared, which lasted until midnight on April 18.
On April 17, state mourning ceremonies were solemnly conducted at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw, paying tribute to the crash victims.
The following day, President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria were interred in a crypt under the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, southern Poland. Commemorative funerals for the victims of the Smolensk disaster continued until April 28, marking a period of profound loss and remembrance.
Polish officials commemorate the victims
“Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, together with the command staff of the Polish Army and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, laid wreaths in front of the plaque commemorating the victims of the Smolensk catastrophe,” Poland’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday on social media.
The Katyn massacreDziś przypada 14. rocznica katastrofy lotniczej pod #Smoleńsk. Wicepremier W. @KosiniakKamysz razem z kadrą dowódczą #WojskoPolskie 🇵🇱 i kierownictwem MON złożył kwiaty przed tablicą upamiętniającą ofiary katastrofy #Smoleńsk.
— Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej 🇵🇱 (@MON_GOV_PL) April 10, 2024
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10 kwietnia 2010 r. w wyniku katastrofy… pic.twitter.com/fAuPZvYHW5
During World War II, the Soviet secret police killed thousands of Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn massacre. This event is often cited as one of the earliest examples of Soviet war-era massacres.
The massacre occurred in 1940 in a forest in western Russia. In a matter of months, the NKVD - the Soviet secret police, executed over 22,000 Polish officers, policemen, and intellectuals who had been captured by the Soviet Union after their invasion of Poland in 1939.
Katyn was part of a larger effort by the Soviet government to weaken and control Poland by eliminating those who could potentially resist or challenge their rule in Poland. By killing off the country’s intelligentsia and leadership, the Soviet Union hoped to create a power vacuum that would make it easier for them to assert control over Poland and its people. This tragic and devastating event continues to impact Polish history today.
The Soviet Union initially blamed the massacre on the Nazis, and generations of Russian propagandists repeated the “Katyn Lie” until 1990 when the country’s government officially admitted that the NKVD had been responsible for the killings.
Source: TVP World, PAP
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