Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife were among 96 people who died in a plane crash on Saturday.
Warsaw, Poland (WiredPRNews.com) – Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were among 96 people killed in a plane crash on Saturday. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the country lost its president as well as military leaders, former exiled President Ryszard Kaczorowski, and other prominent figures in the accident near Smolensk, western Russia.
As noted in the report, the site of the accident, Katyn Forest, was also where thousands of military leaders had been killed 70 years prior by the Soviet secret police during World War II. The leaders reportedly traveled to the area in recognition of those killed in the 1940 massacre on the 70th anniversary of the tragedy.
Political analyst Rafal Chwedoruk of Warsaw University is quoted by the AP as stating of the impact of the accident on Poland, “We are dealing with a loss of some of the elite: trained politicians, intellectuals, scholars. There is no measure for that.”
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