Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Sept. 12, 2006.
Posted on 04/12/2010 1:06:02 PM PDT by lizol
Poland’s tragedy is our tragedy
By David A. Harris · April 12, 2010
NEW YORK (JTA) – When the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and dozens of other officials crashed in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, Russia on Saturday, this immense disaster was also a personal tragedy.
I lost friends in the crash that killed key leaders from the Polish government, economy, and military.
These friends represented democratic Poland, the country that emerged after a decade of struggle led by Solidarity and KOR activists. And of all places for Polish leaders to meet their maker, why did it have to be Katyn, Poles ask, the site of the 1940 Soviet massacre of more than 20,000 Polish officers?
Let me share brief recollections of three of them.
I first met Lech Kaczynski when he was Warsaw’s mayor. He was eager for the renewal of Jewish life in Poland. He felt a kinship to Jews, whom he saw as an integral part of Poland’s fabric. He said it was impossible to understand Poland without comprehending the Jewish role in its life. That’s why he was supportive of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and why he was instrumental in launching it.
I later met him many times as president, most recently in February. A man of passion and principle, he seldom minced words. He knew where he stood and he didn’t try to mask his views from others.
Kaczynski was a friend of the United States. He wasn’t always so certain, however, that the friendship was reciprocated. Indeed, he feared that at times Poland’s loyalty was taken for granted. But he saw the United States as the only real guarantor of global security -- if, he said, Washington wouldn’t succumb to Russia’s siren song or Europe’s equivocation.
The president was a friend of Israel. He liked and understood it. He instinctively grasped its security predicaments because he could personally relate to a vulnerable country in a tough neighborhood. And he chastised those quick to judge Israel in order to curry favor with others, again seeing a parallel with Poland, whose own interests were sacrificed more than once on the altar of global power politics.
Rejecting Iran’s nuclear ambitions was a no-brainer for Kaczynski. Like many Poles, he and his family had witnessed man’s capacity for evil. In our meetings, he’d get right to the point: Isn’t it obvious what Iran is doing? Iran’s leaders can’t be trusted with a bomb. The world needs to get tougher with Tehran.
Mariusz Handzlik was another friend on the plane. A diplomat whom I first met in Washington years ago, he was serving as undersecretary of state in the office of Poland’s president.
Mariusz and I shared a deep admiration for Jan Karski, the Polish wartime hero who later joined the faculty of Georgetown University. While serving in the United States, Mariusz befriended Karski, becoming his regular chess partner. They were playing chess when Karski suddenly felt ill and died shortly afterward. Together, Mariusz and I cried for this man who, at repeated risk to his own life, had tried to alert a largely deaf world to the Nazi’s Final Solution.
And when Mariusz was assigned to the Polish Mission to the United Nations, he proudly told me that now he would be in a position, together with his colleagues, to help Israel in the world body. He wanted the Israelis to know they had friends at the United Nations, which largely was seen as hostile territory for Israel.
Andrzej Przewoźnik was secretary-general of the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites.
I first met him when the Polish government and the American Jewish Committee joined together to demarcate, protect, and memorialize the site of the Nazi death camp in Belzec, located in southeastern Poland. In less than a year, more than 500,000 Jews were killed in an area barely the size of a few football fields. Only two Jews survived.
In June 2004, after years of planning and construction, the site was inaugurated. As the late Miles Lerman said at that solemn ceremony, “No place of martyrdom anywhere is today as well protected and memorialized as Belzec.”
That could not have occurred without Andrzej’s pivotal role. He helped make it happen, overcoming the multiple hurdles along the way. By doing so, he ensured that what took place at Belzec, long neglected by the Communists, would never be forgotten.
May the memories of Lech Kaczynski, Mariusz Handzlik, Andrzej Przewoźnik – and their fellow passengers – forever be for a blessing, as those of us privileged to have known them were ourselves blessed.
Ping
God Bless Lech Kaczynski and the Poles!
Could you educate us a little please on how new leaders will be chosen or appointed to fill all of the positions these people held?
“And of all places for Polish leaders to meet their maker, why did it have to be Katyn?”
Indeed.
Prayers for the families of the people who perished, and for all of Poland.
link A Polish MP speaks up and and goes where - thusfar - few have gone. Suspect more will join him, officially; sooner, or later.
According to the Polish Constitution - in the case of the death of the President - the speaker of the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish parliament) temporarily takes over his prerogative powers.
Within 2 weeks after that (at the latest) he must set a date for the presidential election (not later than 60 days after that).
This is the President.
As to the other officials - they usually have a vice-..., who takes their prerogatives. And the appointmenet of the new people for the particular position vary.
Usually they are chosen by the parliament (most of the positions).
The military commanders are appointed by the Minister of defense, in co-operation with the President (in this case it will be the Speaker of the Sejm, acting as the President)
In 2003, after the Pulitzer Board began a renewed inquiry, the Times hired Mark von Hagen, professor of Russian history at Columbia University, to review Duranty’s work. Von Hagen found Duranty’s reports to be unbalanced and uncritical, and that they far too often gave voice to Stalinist propaganda. In comments to the press he stated, “For the sake of The New York Times’ honor, they should take the prize away.”[14] The Times sent von Hagen’s report to the Pulitzer Board and left it to the Board to take whatever action they considered appropriate.[15] In a letter accompanying the report, Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. called Duranty’s work “slovenly” and said it “should have been recognized for what it was by his editors and by his Pulitzer judges seven decades ago.”
Ultimately, the Admin of the board, Sig Gissler, refused to rescind the award because “there was not clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deception, the relevant standard in this case.”
A little background on Gorski, the MP in question:
Artur Górski (born January 30, 1970 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician. He was elected to Sejm on September 25, 2005 getting 2850 votes in 19 Warsaw district, running on the Law and Justice ticket. He was reelected in 2007 and is currently in office.
In late 2006, he spearheaded an initiative - along with other members of LPR, PSL and his own party - to declare Jesus Christ the honorary King of Poland. [1][2]
On November 5, 2008, a day after Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election, he called Obama the “black messiah of the new left” and said his victory marks the “end of the civilization of the white man”.[3][4] On December 4, 2008 the Sejm’s Parliamentary Ethics Commission ordered Górski to apologize publicly for his comments about Barack Obama or to face parliamentary disciplinary proceedings. Górski told the journalists that he probably will apologize but that he had two weeks to make up his mind.[5]
Do you think the PiS will benefit from the sympathy vote?
This fellow is a lunatic.
Between the lines of his original words you’ll read, that he’s suggesting a conspiracy of Putin and Polish PM Tusk, which led to the death of the President.
I have absolutely no idea.
I’m really curious too.
There were several members of the Sejm on the plane as well, right? Will there be new elections for the seats they held within that same 60 day window?
It's different with the elections to the Sejm - as people vote for the list. OK, a particular person, but being on the on the list. And the seat goes to the one from the list, who gets the biggest number of votes. If he/she dies, resigns, etc. - the one with the next number of the votes takes his/her position. And there's no need to repeat the election.
“This fellow is a lunatic.”
Are you really sure that a conspiracy does not exist? Do you recall the President of Georgia was most likely poisoned by Russian agents? Why is it so far fetched to consider the possiblitiy of a conspiracy? Do you have any mitigating information other than your own opinion?
I believe that this is just the kind of behavior to expect out of Russia with such a weak POTUS that we have. Hell, Obuma probably gave his permission for the Russians to proceed without interferance from us.
God Bless the Polish People.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.