Crash memorial
April 17, 2010
Church bells pealed across the country on Saturday and emergency sirens blared at 8:56 am to mark the minute a week earlier that the plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria and 95 other prominent figures crashed in Russia.
A four-hour memorial service followed in Warsaw's historic Pilsudski Square, site of the tomb of Poland's unknown soldier. The mass on a specially designed stage in the shape of a staircase was celebrated by Polish bishops and the Vatican envoy, Cardinal Angelo Sodano
"Things like this never happen; they are impossible. It is the greatest tragedy in the history of Poland since World War II," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the assembled mourners.
"They all had their dreams and hopes for the future of their homeland. This is a serious test for us to understand those hopes well and take them into the future," he added.
Warsaw's picturesque old town resembled a shrine of floral tributes adorned with candles, crucifixes and flags.
Catholic Church shows solidarity
At the memorial service, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his solidarity in a message read out by his envoy in Warsaw.
"The Holy Father gave me the honor of representing him before you in these difficult circumstances, in order to express his solidarity and paternal feelings," Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk said to the crowd.
According to the presidential administration, hundreds of thousands paid their respects to the president and his wife in the run-up to the ceremony, as citizens were able to visit the coffins in Warsaw beginning on Tuesday.
The coffins of Kaczynski and his wife Maria later on Saturday were moved from the presidential palace to St John's Cathedral for an evening mass.
Ash cloud could keep world leaders from funeral
Kaczynski and his wife are to be buried in the southern city of Krakow on Sunday at the historical burial site of Wawel Castle.
Poland's historic city is preparing for up to one million mourners at the funeral.
"This will be one of the largest, if not the largest single event the city has seen over the last couple hundred years," Krakow city spokesman Filip Szatanik told the AFP news agency amid preparations for the ceremony.
The president's family has insisted that the funeral take place on Sunday, despite fears that the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud covering much of northern Europe could prevent world leaders from attending the event.
"It is the will of the family that, under no circumstance, the date of the funeral be changed," said presidential palace spokesman Jacek Sasin.
glb/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer