Poland Feels Shock at the Size of Its Loss

[Dover]

Source: NYT




WARSAW — On a chilly April night, thousands of Poles wandered the historic old town of the capital city, their way lighted by a multitude of flickering flames, candles in the red and white colors of the Polish flag burning at their feet.

The people were of all ages and political persuasions, families and groups of boys and girls in scouting uniforms. If there were no answers to be found Saturday night as to why the country had been robbed of many of its brightest minds and most dedicated public servants, Poles could at least find reassurance in the presence of so many others in the same searching state of shock.

Pawel Skoczylas, 26, a clerk, said that he had come to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Pilsudski Square to mourn those killed “because I’m a patriot, because I’m a Catholic, because I’m a citizen of Poland, because I’m just a man, a person.”

His voice trembled as he spoke. Like many of those out in the streets, he said he had difficulty talking about something he had not yet fully grasped...cont'd

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/europe/11warsaw.html?ref=world

---

Body of Polish President Is Flown Back to Warsaw



Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of President Lech Kaczynski of Poland, kneeled before the coffin at the airport in Warsaw on Sunday.


WARSAW — With the country in mourning, the body of Poland’s president was returned to this traumatized capital on Sunday, a day after he and dozens of top Polish political and military leaders died in a plane crash in western Russia.

Russian and Polish investigators began Sunday to analyze evidence from the flight recorders in the crash, which killed 96 people when the presidential plane went down about a half mile from the runway in the Russian city of Smolensk. The Polish delegation was on its way to take part in a ceremony there to commemorate the Soviet massacre of more than 20,000 members of Poland’s elite officer corps 70 years ago.

In Warsaw, senior Polish officials sought to reassure the public that the government would continue to function normally despite the tremendous loss...cont'd

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/world/europe/12poland.html?ref=world