THEY DEMAND THE TRUTH

ARTUR STELMASIAK

Ten thousand people arrived in Warsaw in order to celebrate the remembrance of 96 casualties of the air crash of the governmental airplane. The third anniversary of the Smoleńsk tragedy became also an occasion to express a protest against a lie

Warsaw streets reminded of a view which was spread all over the world after 10 April 2010. On Krakowskie Przedmieście candles were lit and a few dozen thousand people went out into streets. But as 3 years ago Poles were united and engrossed in a mourn, now there was an atmosphere of discontent and ordinary anger. – We will not allow for doing with Poland what one wants. We cannot allow for the Smoleńsk lie – says Jarosław Kaczyński to the crowd, the chairman of the Law and Justice party and brother of the late president Lech Kaczyński.

The celebrations on Krakowskie Przedmieście contrasted strongly with official state celebrations of the anniversary of the catastrophe. Only a small group of people arrive at the Military Graveyard, apart from the families of the casualties and the official governmental delegation. The prime minister Donald Tusk laid flowers under the cover of night. For, he visited the graveyard in the early morning, just before his flight to Nigeria.

The prime minister ran away because he is ashamed of the fact that he did not take care about the most important citizens of his country. Nobody will believe that he had to fly to Nigeria just on 10 April – says Andrzej Duda to ‘Niedziela’, the MP of the Law and Justice party and sub-secretary of the state in the Office of the President Lech Kaczyński.

In the church and in the street

On Krakowskie Przedmieście, there was a crowd of people all day. On the stage in front of the Presidential Palace, people were listening to concerts of patriotic music and were watching films about the air crash. However, the central point of the celebration was the Holy Mass in the intention of the air crash casualties, their families and Homeland. The Eucharist presided over by bishop Józef Zawitkowski in the Warsaw arch-cathedral of St. John the Baptist was concelebrated by a several dozens priests. Whereas the crowd of believers filled both the gothic cathedral, streets of the Old City and the Castle Square.

– Walking through Krakowskie Przedmieście is a question who is blamed for the death of the president. Fog, ravine, pilots, a birch? We killed them. We killed them with words, a lie, rudeness, words, mockery – said bishop Zawitkowski.

The hierarch also said that ‘governments, terms of office and orientations finished for the people who were killed in Smoleńsk’ – There is no discussion about abortion, lesbians or homosexuals. Their hope was fulfilled. Heaven started and the hell started here.

Jarosław Kaczynski expressed his opinion about these words, speaking to the crowd in front of the Presidential Palace. – Love to Homeland is the most important one. And it means also love to the truth – emphasized the chairman of the Law and Justice party. – Love to this truth which refers to ordinary human matters, but also to this most important one which refers to God. Because, as Fr. Piotr Skarga said, the root of the Polish Republic is Christ. Therefore our strength must be based also on the moral renewal.

They arrived from whole Poland

In the crowd in front of the Presidential Palace, one could meet people who had arrived from whole Poland. – We arrived in order to pay a tribute to the casualties of the catastrophe, especially to the president. We also want to express our opposition to hypocrisy and a lie – says Michalina Cetnarowska, who is holding the weekly ‘Sunday’ in her hand. - I have the knowledge about the Smoleńsk catastrophe from the weekly. I also run a parish kiosk in Szymbark near Tarnów in which I sell ‘Sunday’ – adds Cetnarowska with a smile.

After talks with people it is seen that resentment is growing among Poles. On the one hand there is no respect towards the remembrance about the casualties, but on the other hand the whole mass of neglects and lie appears around the investigation of the catastrophe. – I am grateful to all people for whom it is important to search the truth. I am glad that another anniversary is attended by so many Poles. It cheers up the families of the casualties – says Ewa Kochanowska, a widow of the Chairman of Civil Rights Janusz Kochanowski.

On Krakowskie Przedmieście thousands of people were watching also a transmission of parliamentary meeting of the team for the investigation of the Smoleńsk catastrophe. On that day, in the Seym a Smolensk report was presented, in which attention was paid to unclear procedures of the repair of Tu-154 M on the area of Russia and falsifications of recordings from the black boxes. Many shocking circumstances of the catastrophe would have been concealed from the world if it had not been for the work of the team and its experts.

This crowd gives us strength. We know that people will not let other deceive them. However, I would get engaged in the investigation of the matter even when the streets were completely empty today. I think that we owe it to those who were killed in Smoleńsk – says Antoni Macierewicz to ‘Sunday’.

So, why does searching the truth meet with such attacks? – I have never experienced such a bitterness from ordinary people in the street, in a bus or a tram. These attacks are separated from the reality. In order to see them, I must turn on TV – answers Macierewicz.

(AA)

"Niedziela" 16/2013

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl