It’s hard to believe, but Poland is marking 2nd anniversary (druga rocznica) of the 2010 plane crash (katastrofa samolotu) that killed its president Lech Kaczyński and 95 others.
Ceremonies took place at Powązki military cemetery in Warsaw, and at the crash site near a military airfield in Smoleńsk, western Russia.
However the late president’s twin, Jarosław Kaczyński, boycotted (zbojkotował) the state ceremonies for the second year running and attended separate events.
All 96 passengers and crew were killed in the crash in 2010, when the plane attempted to land in foggy weather.
Several Polish politicians and officials, including the first lady, Maria, had been on board. They had been travelling to Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyń massacre of more than 20,0000 Polish officers on Stalin’s orders by Soviet secret police during World War II.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk took part in Tuesday’s ceremony with some of the victims’ relatives in Powązki military cemetery, where many of the crash victims are buried.
President Bronisław Komorowski attended a Mass in Warsaw, and laid flowers at a plaque commemorating the dead.
Polish Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski and Russia’s Parliament Speaker Sergei Naryshkin also laid wreaths (wieńce) in a ceremony at the crash site in Smoleńsk.
Poland’s culture minister Bogdan Zdrojewski has confirmed details of a monument (pomnik, monument) to the victims of the 2010 Smoleńsk plane crash.
Zdrojewski was in Smoleńsk yesterday with a delegation of 120 officials and family members of the victims of the disaster which killed President Kaczyński and 95 others.
The Smoleńsk monument, which will be completed in time for the third anniversary of the disaster, will be composed of a long, black and cracked wall, on which the names of the 96 victims will be inscribed (wpisane).
The design of the monument (projekt pomnika) was confirmed during talks between Minister Zdrojewski and his Russian counterpart Alexander Avdeyev.
Yesterday, besides the official tributes at the crash site and at Katyń, where wreaths were laid, Minister Zdrojewski opened a new Polish consulate (konsulat) in Smoleńsk itself.
The office will not be empowered (upoważniony) to issue visas to Poland for Russians, but rather is intended to provide assistance (udzielanie pomocy) to Poles visiting the Smoleńsk and Katyń memorial sites.
Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)
