Poland: the Aftermath

Tragedy Reveals National Unity in Poland

As students and staff of Jacobs University, maintaining a sense of national identity remains a daily endeavor in an international environment such as the one in which we live and study. Beyond the campus, however, a more global examination of national identity in Poland thrives. Following a week of debriefing from the Easter holidays, Poland experienced an unprecedented tragedy involving the political elite of the country. On April 10, 2010, President Lech Kaczynski, First Lady Maria Kaczynska, and 86 other political, military, and religious members of the Polish government set off for Smolensk, Russia in order to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. Prior to landing, a dense bout of fog surrounded Polish Airforce Tu-154, leaving the pilot unsure of where to land. The pilot attempted to land the aircraft four times, but failed. In the end, the aircraft plummeted into the forest and crashed just minutes away from Smolensk, the final destination of those on board. As one might expect, there were no survivors, and immediate mourning from the Poles ensued.
Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, exclaimed that the tragedy constituted the worst national tragedy for Poland since World War II. In spite of the two minute silence and frozen expressions on the faces of Polish people, Tusk asserted that “the Polish state must function and will function.” Although only a temporary position, Bronislaw Komorowski, a speaker from the lower house of the Sejm (Parliament), currently serves as the acting president. A popular election, though earlier than suspected, will occur on June 20, 2010.
Agata Kraj, a student of Global Visual Communication, lives in Sopot, a small city which with Gdynia and Gdansk forms part of the Trojmiasto (Tricity). Coincidentally, Sopot remains the birthplace of Lech Walesa and the Kaczynski brothers, one of whom was Lech Kaczynski, the president involved in the plane crash. Kraj stated that “where I come from already carries a lot of meaning and historical significance.” Though not the most avid news searcher, Kraj found herself checking “major sources a couple of times a day” around the time of the disaster. She asserts that the majority of the political elite perished in the crash and she highlights that Poland's “intellectual capacity” had gone with them. She hopes that the incumbent leaders are competent enough to make a “transition as smooth as possible.”
For now, all that Poland can do is hope for a competent leader to win the election and restore Poland´s political structure to its full potential. Bronislaw Komorowski, the current acting president, “has a great chance of getting elected” Kraj added once again. The situation in Poland had been unprecedented in the country's history, as well as for most of the world. In the aftermath of the tragedy, however, Poland has experienced something that most other nations have not recently portrayed in the media: the growth of national unity and kinship.