Ninety-six trees will be planted in Warsaw to commemorate victims of the Smolensk air disaster at the initiative of the the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD).

The idea comes just weeks before the one-year anniversary of the air crash in western Russia which killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others.

While the ruling Civic Platform and the opposition Law and Justice party argue about how and where to celebrate the anniversary of the tragic event, and what monument should commemorate the Smolensk victims, the Left has come up with an idea which has been hailed by both parties.

“We want to create a square with 96 trees symbolizing all the victims and benches in the middle where everyone could come and reflect,” says Jerzy Budzyn, deputy head of the Warsaw branch of the Democratic Left Alliance.

“We haven’t chosen the species of the trees. They will either be oaks, but they grow slowly, or birches, but they are rather associated with a Russian forest,” he told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily..

Initially, the ‘memorial forest’ was to be planted near the city centre by the gynaecological hospital on Inflancka St. but its employees say they need a parking lot, not a forest.

Besides, it is possible that the hospital may be enlarged and there will not be enough room for the ‘forest’.

An alternative placement is the surroundings of St. Catherine Church, on the crossing of three districts: Mokotow, Ursynow and Wilanow.

Anniversary ceremonies will take place on 10 April. (mg)