After plane crash, Poland must remember Lech Kaczynski -- and then move ahead
A young Polish man on a bicycle, who had followed the motorcade bearing the body of President Lech Kaczynski back to Warsaw鈥檚 presidential palace, was asked his thoughts by The New York Times: 鈥淚鈥檓 not afraid,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is what the laws and the Constitution are for.鈥�
Poland lost its president and his wife, and many of its top political and military leaders in an airline crash in western Russia last weekend that killed all 96 aboard. But the tragedy brought alive something else, the realization that Poland鈥檚 oppressive communist past is long gone.
Today Poland is a stable, peaceful democracy. This week the country鈥檚 stock market has remained stable. Elected officials set about planning elections, as directed by its Constitution. In coming days Poland will conduct its mourning and then, before the full warmth of summer sets in, it will elect a new president and move forward.
Mr. Kaczynski鈥檚 trip to western Russia was to attend a commemoration of the execution of more than 20,000 Polish officers and civilian leaders in the Katyn Forest by Soviet forces during the early days of World War II. The incident is one of the most painful memories in the history of Poland, whose perilous geography finds it squeezed (at times into oblivion) between two bigger, often aggressive European powers, Russia and Germany.
The Katyn massacre has chilled relations with Russia over the years. The Soviet Union blamed Katyn on the Nazis, though Poles knew better. It wasn鈥檛 until 1990 that Russia even acknowledged its own responsibility. But even now it has yet to fully open its archives on Katyn to outsiders.
This week, Russia has done much to extend a hand of friendship and sympathy to Poland. The award-winning 2008 Polish film 鈥淜atyn鈥� has played for the first time on Russian TV, laying out the details of the massacre to a Russian public largely ignorant of it. At a ceremony last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Katyn 鈥渁 crime that cannot be justified in any way.鈥�
Poland鈥檚 foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, stopped short of saying a political breakthrough with Russia may be at hand, but he did acknowledge 鈥渁n emotional breakthrough,鈥� saying that after the plane crash Mr. Putin seemed truly moved and 鈥渇elt our pain.鈥� 鈥淲e mourn with you,鈥� Putin told Polish TV. Russia also declared a national day of mourning.
Kaczynski had been a strong advocate of Polish nationalism and wary of the country鈥檚 eastern neighbor. But he apparently had headed to Russia with a conciliatory message. In his speech prepared for the 70th anniversary ceremony, he called Katyn 鈥渁 painful wound of Polish history, which poisoned relations between Poles and Russians for decades.鈥� He called for efforts to heal the wound and recognized Russian efforts at reconciliation. 鈥淲e, Poles, appreciate what Russians have done in the past years,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淲e should follow the path which brings our nations closer, we should not stop or go back.鈥�
Now is Russia鈥檚 opportunity to continue to reach out with that hand of reconciliation. Although it has shed its Stalinist past, which brought about Katyn, Russia must never forget it.
Poland is no longer a strategic front-line state in a US-Soviet cold war. But in the 21st century it has become a strong ally of the United States. President Obama鈥檚 hometown of Chicago is also home to the largest group of Poles living outside that country. Mr. Obama could honor the warm ties between the two nations by attending the Kaczynski funeral, demonstrating America鈥檚 strong support as Poland moves beyond this tragedy toward a brighter future.
