WARSAW – The families of people who died with Poland’s president in a plane crash in April have proposed moving a cross honouring the victims to the site of the disaster in Russia in order to defuse a bitter political dispute.
The simple wooden cross, erected in front of Warsaw’s presidential palace shortly after the April 10th crash, has become the object of a fierce tug-of-war between Poland’s authorities and supporters of the late president Lech Kaczynski.
Nationalist, staunchly Catholic supporters of Kaczynski want the cross to remain in place and have fought efforts to move it to a nearby church, accusing the authorities of failing to show sufficient respect to the 96 crash victims.
“We could take the cross with us ... to Smolensk [in Russia], the site of the most tragic event in Poland’s contemporary history, the families of 28 crash victims said in an open letter published in yesterday’s Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
“The cross would remain there to sanctify the place where 96 people tragically died,” said the letter, which was addressed to Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski’s wife Anna.
The families asked Anna Komorowska to join them on their planned “pilgrimage” to Smolensk next month, an invitation she said in a statement posted on the presidential website that she would be happy to accept.
President Komorowski, keen to defuse the strong political emotions still swirling around the cross issue, swiftly backed the families’ initiative.
“I am heart and soul behind this initiative. I think this might put an end to the dramas and conflicts involving the families of the victims of the catastrophe,” Mr Komorowski told reporters.
The cross, which is three metres tall, has become a rallying point for the supporters of Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, who heads Poland’s main opposition party Law and Justice (PiS).
The authorities want the cross removed because they say it is time to draw a line under the tragedy. Protesters against the cross, including many younger Poles, say its presence undermines the official secularism of the Polish state.
After clashes between “cross defenders”, police and protesters, the authorities put up metal barriers at the site. Highlighting the continued tensions, “cross defenders” sang the national anthem, chanted “This is Poland!” and applauded Jaroslaw Kaczynski yesterday as he and other PiS officials laid wreaths in front of the presidential palace to mark five months since the crash.
Originally erected as a symbol of national solidarity in a time of mourning, the cross even has divided the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose hierarchy largely backs moving the cross while some priests favour keeping it in place. – (Reuters)