Saturday April 10, 2010 Warszawa , Poland
A great tragedy in Poland. Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, his wife and several members of his government (total of 96 people) have died in a plane crash near Smolensk airport in western Russia. The crash devastated the upper echelons of Poland's political and military establishments. On board were the army chief of staff, national bank president, deputy foreign minister, army chaplain, head of the National Security Office, deputy parliament speaker, civil rights commissioner and many others. The president had been traveling with a Polish delegation to Russia to take part in reconciliatory ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, where Russian forces killed more than 20,000 Poles in April and May of 1940. MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE.