“Once again, we pay tribute to and remember those who perished on 10 April 2010, one of the most difficult, tragic, but at the same time one of the most important moments in our history” – Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Wednesday morning in Kraków. 

The President paid homage to the presidential couple, Lech and Maria Kaczyński, interred within the hallowed confines of Wawel Cathedral’s crypt, laying a wreath before their sarcophagus. He invoked the memory of those who, despite divergent political persuasions and discord, embarked on the ill-fated journey aboard the aircraft that fateful day, united in their mission to honour Poland’s national heroes, those who perished in their steadfast pursuit of a free, sovereign Poland.

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„Today, we recall the Polish officers slain in Katyn by the Soviets, just as we remember those who took flight on that terrible Saturday, 10 April 2010, to pay homage to their memory,” Duda said .

Dignitaries including the speakers of both houses of parliament, Szymon Hołownia and Małgorzata Kidawa-Blońska respectively, alongside the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Warsaw’s Mayor, Rafał Trzaskowski, converged at the Powązki Military Cemetery in the capital to lay floral tributes at the monument dedicated to the victims.

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10 April 2010 stands as a poignant reminder of loss, with 96 Pilish members of the Polish elite tragically perishing in the Tu-154 plane crash near Smolensk, Western Russia. Among them were President Lech Kaczyński and First Lady Maria, as well as Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last Polish president in exile, esteemed commanders of the Polish Armed Forces, and representatives of the Sejm and Senate among others. 

Image: X (@przezydentpl)

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen