Editor comment
Lech Kaczanowski
11.04.2010
The Polish Curse
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| Editor, news2biz POLAND |
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The first spring issue of news2biz POLAND was supposed to be completely different. After putting all the stories together Friday evening I skimmed through all of them once again only to marvel at the amount of positive news from the country. A new wave of huge foreign investments, natural resource discoveries, reconciliation with Russia – all of these made for a very positive outlook for the country, which over the last year seems to have finally reached its momentum as a bright spot of hope in the heart of a crisis-stricken Europe.
Curbing my enthusiasm over the dinner table that evening my wife said something that proved sadly prophetic. "Things are just going too well," she told me. "Whenever Poland starts doing all right, something must go horribly wrong." None of us thought that ominous comment was going to become reality a couple of hours later.
Since hearing of the tragic crash on Saturday morning we have been living in a surreal daze. The Polish Miracle quickly became the Polish Curse. The country lost its President and his wife, all of the top military commanders, many members of parliament, heads of several state institutions, central bank governor, high-ranking clergymen, and families of the Katyn massacre victims, who were on their way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the NKVD atrocities.
Back in 1940 the Soviets had murdered some 22,000 Polish officers and intellectual elite in the woods near Smolensk, and decades later the cursed place took the lives of the country's top people. And to think that just a few days earlier I wrote a story on how the recent meeting of Polish Prime Minister Tusk and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Katyn seemed to have brought some closure to many Poles and a much-needed thawing in relations between the two countries.
Regardless of any conspiracy theories that are likely to emerge in the wake of the Smolensk crash, it seems like the tragedy was caused by a human error. Determined to bring the party to the symbolic event in Katyn, the pilots disregarded warnings from staff on the ground and attempted to land the aircraft despite low visibility.
A joint Polish-Russian investigation is to dispel all doubts, but judging by what happened over the past 24 hours, the tragedy is likely to bring Poland and Russia together, rather than deepen the mutual distrust. The Russian response was immediate, effective, and extremely supportive. No-one in Warsaw seems to be blaming Moscow, the Poles are simply blaming their cursed fate.
What does all of this mean for Poland? Well, we are yet to see. Prime Minister Tusk and his government, which have only recently managed to contain the impact of the global financial meltdown on the Polish economy, are facing a task of entirely different proportions. Losing any of the officials, who died in the crash, would have meant a crisis for Poland. Losing all of them combined is something beyond belief.
Clearly, there are procedures to have each of the officials replaced in case of emergency. Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, who was to challenge the late President Lech Kaczynski in elections this autumn, has assumed his duties in line with the constitution. A new election has to take place by the end of June, but the question is who shall stand against Mr Komorowski. Two of the four leading candidates (Lech Kaczynski and leftist leader Jerzy Szmajdzinski) were killed in the accident. Some say a general vote should be organized as well, since the tragedy took a number of key deputies.
The coming days will be ones of mourning and grief. Thousands gather in streets to pay their respects, light candles, and lay flowers. Tragedies unite the Poles, albeit the unity seldom lasts long. Once the candles go out and flowers fade, the country will face a true test of solidarity – trying to turn an unprecedented national tragedy into an experience that empowers the battered country and allows Poland to ride its momentum against all odds.