Goodbye, Lech Kaczynski

Place Piłsudski, Warsaw (Image: ©Piotr Pawłowski)

Between 10 and 18 April, Poland tragically lost and buried the body of president Lech Kaczynski in Kraków’s Wawel Castle. 96 died in total in the plane crash in Smolensk in Russia, including the First Lady Maria and high-profile political personalities, as they were en route to pay their respects at the 70th anniversary of the infamous Katyn massacre. After being dubbed the ‘second Katyn’, the debate is now on who will take the mantle in presidential elections in June 2010, now that a leading eurosceptic and conservative figure is so suddenly gone

DEBATE Lech Kaczynski laid to rest next to kings

Lech Kaczynski laid to rest next to kings

Images of mourning in Poland which circulated the international media revealed one quite unexpected crack. After Lech Kaczynski’s family chose Wawel Castle in Krakow to be the president's last resting place, many citizens were outraged. Can you imagine French president Nicolas Sarkozy being laid to rest next to Napoleon in the Invalides? Or Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi finding peace in Rome’s Pantheon?

by n- ost @ // 21/04/10

politics, death, civil society, warsaw, accident, jaroslaw kaczynski, lech kaczynski, cracow

OPINION President dead: what political future for Poland?

President dead: what political future for Poland?

An election for a new president will need to be held in sixty days, but it’s hard to see how Polish society can pull itself together so quickly since their top illuminaries were largely killed in a plane crash on 10 April. Extract from cafebabel.com's Belgium-based American blogger 'Gulf Stream Blues'

by Dave Keating @ // 14/04/10

politics, death, blogs, accident, jaroslaw kaczynski, lech kaczynski, opinion

VOX POP Young Poles react: Lech Kaczynski death, 'second Katyn tragedy'

Young Poles react: Lech Kaczynski death, 'second Katyn tragedy'

In the same place where the Polish elite was executed 70 years ago, a new Polish elite dies in a horrid aircrash, that leaves Poles at home and abroad in a state of shock. Young Poles across Europe help demystify the tragedy

by Hanna Sankowska @ // 10/04/10

politics, dmitry medvedev, warsaw, youth, jaroslaw kaczynski, news, lech kaczynski

News: Polish president Lech Kaczynski dies

News: Polish president Lech Kaczynski dies

Smolensk, Russia. The Tupolev crashed one morning in April, the 10th. Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and other high-figuring state officials were amidst 88 passengers and eight crew members who died instantly. Having tried to land amidst bad fog, the presidential plane hit the trees on the fourth attempt which tore the jet up

by Aleksandra Sygiel @ // 10/04/10

politics, warsaw, euweek, lech kaczynski

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