On 10 April 2010, 96 people died in Smolensk. Among them there was the President of Poland, Professor Lech Kaczynski, the First Lady, Vice-Marshals of the Sejm and Senate, ministers, MPs, senators, commanders of the Polish Army and many great people. They flew to Katyn to commemorate Polish officers murdered by the NKVD. Six years after this tragedy the memory of them is still alive and moving to the depths. Poles gathered in large numbers as never before. Over 100 thousand people took to the streets to pay their respects.
The main ceremony of the day took place at the Presidential Palace, where President Andrzej Duda and Marta Kaczyńska unveiled a plaque commemorating President Lech Kaczyński. In an emotional speech, the daughter of the tragically deceased President thanked the current President and asked the audience to remember her father:
I would like to thank the President very much for commemorating my father. After six years, he lived to see another memorial in Warsaw - this is a symbol of breaking the oblivion that we had to deal with for the last years. The forced oblivion of a man, a politician, a great patriot, who testified with his life that he deserves to be remembered.
My father was a Solidarity activist, minister of state in Lech Walesa's office, president of NIK, MP, senator, minister of justice, later president of Warsaw, and finally president of Poland. This fully justifies his commemoration, especially here in Warsaw, the city he loved. On the building, where he worked hard for less than 5 years, on the Royal Route, which was revitalized on his initiative.
This is not about building a legend, but about giving due remembrance.
On that day Marek Kuchciński laid flowers at the plaque of the victims of the catastrophe and the Marshal of the Sejm Maciej Płażyński, at the Presidential Palace at Krakowskie Przedmieście, at the grave of late Tomasz Merta, Katarzyna Doraczyńska, Paweł Wypych, at the monument of the victims of the Smoleńsk catastrophe (Powązki), at the symbolic grave of the late Presidential Couple (Stare Powązki). The Marshal also took part in the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to the late Lech Kaczyński (voivodship office), the late Grażyna Gęsicka (Ministry of Development), the late Janusz Krupski (Ministry of Development) and in the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to the late Lech Kaczyński (Presidential Palace).
