Jarolsaw Kaczynski with niece Marta following the Smolensk air disaster.The usually restrained presidential candidate Jaroslaw Kaczynski opens up to a glossy celebrity magazine, in the run up to election day on June 20, about his personal feelings on losing his twin brother Lech in the Smolensk air disaster, about his mother’s illness and his status as a single man.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski tells he tells Gala magazine how difficult it was for him to lose a twin brother.
“Although Lech was my twin brother I didn’t have a premonition of his death. When I found out, I didn’t have time for despair. My mum was in hospital in a very bad state and I had to protect her from the bad news which could have killed her,” said Kaczynski who admitted that for the sake of his mother’s wellbeing, he lied to her about Lech’s absence.
“I told her that Leszek went to Latin America and because of the volcanic ash cloud cannot return home by plane and has to travel by ship, which is a long journey. I lied because that’s what doctors advised me to do,” he said.
The Law and Justice party leader reveals that the most painful moment was the identification of his late brother’s body. “When I found out about his death I felt I had to go to Smolensk immediately and find my brother’s body. The pain was terrible. I cannot describe what I felt while being at the [crash] site,” said Kaczynski.
“It was an absurd, senseless death. It was a shock for me and it closed a certain period of my life. All my life I was one of The Kaczynskis brothers. Our lives ran in parallel and our bond was very strong. Lech was always with me and I didn’t know what it meant to live alone. A part of me died with Lech,” said Jaroslaw Kaczynski who explains that he did not publicly cry after his brother’s death because he was taught that men should not cry, but to hold back their emotions.
Though twin brothers, Jaroslaw and Lech have lived very different lives. Lech had a wife, Maria – who also died in western Russia on April 10 - and daughter Marta, while Jaroslaw lives alone in north Warsaw.
“I never envied my brother anything. I never feel lonely, either. I have family and friends who support me, which is emotionally satisfying. There’s also Basia, my housekeeper, and Piotr, who takes care of my cat Alik,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in the interview. (mg/pg)
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