Plaque on wall of Presidential Palace. Photo – Magda JensenA marble plaque in memory of the 96 who died in the April 10 Smolensk disaster has been unveiled on the wall of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
The modest plaque was unveiled by Jacek Michałowski from the Presidential Chancellery and vice president of Warsaw Jacek Wojciechowski as a priest and military representatives stood by.
The small plaque has a cross at the top and underneath it says: “Following the Smolensk catastrophe of 10 April 2010, which claimed the lives of 96 people, among them President Lech Kaczyński and his wife, and former President-in-exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, Poles gathered at this site, around a cross erected by scouts, to join in grief and concern over the future of the state.”
The surprise move came directly after the Warsaw Heritage Conservation Department agreed, Wednesday morning, to place the plaque commemorating the Smolensk crash victims on the wall of the Presidential Palace, as suggested by President Komorowski.
Plaque 'not enough'
The small plaque is not going to be enough to satisfy protestors who have demanded a memorial to the late president Lech Kaczynski, however.
One protestor, who was standing by as the plaque was unveiled told Polish Radio: "Even dogs are given more impressive plaques at animal cemeteries."
The opposition Law and Justice parliamentary party leader, Mariusz Blaszczak, told Polish Radio this morning that a plaque on a wall “is not enough” as a national monument to those who died in Smolensk.
The Law and Justice MP said that President Bronislaw Komorowski - who originally ordered the removal of the cross from outside the Presidential Palace - should consult with the families of those who died in Smolensk before taking decisions on what form the monument should take.
“A plaque is definitely not enough,” agrees another Law and Justice MP, Joachim Brudzińsk. “The Smolensk disaster was such a great tragedy that the that victims should be commemorated by a monument.”
Law and Justice has proposed the appointment of an honorary committee for the construction of the monument, the honorary chairwoman of which should be Jadwiga Kaczynska, the gravely ill mother of the late Lech Kaczynski.
The bitter controversy over what form the Smolensk monument should take escalated last week when protestors gathered outside the Presidential Palace in a successful attempt to stop the removal of a cross put outside the president’s residence by scouts in the wake of the April 10 disaster.
The battle over the cross has divided the ruling Civic Platform from the opposition Law and Justice party lead by Lech Kaczynski’s twin brother Jaroslaw. The cross has also sparked off the debate about the role of religion in Poland and the place of religious symbols in public places.
Parliamentary Speaker Grzegorz Schetyna, and member of the Civic Platform party however has expressed hope that the plaque will put an end to a political dispute over the commemoration of the crash victims:
"We are closing this chapter of heightened emotions, nerves and the playing off this site and cross for a political advantage. It is good that President Bronisław Komorowski, who finished his term as Parliamentary Speaker with the decision to hang the plaque commemorating the parliamentarians who died in the catastrophe, begins his term as president with the plaque on the wall of the presidential palace and commemorating the mourning of the late presidential couple and President Kaczorowski and other victims," he said. (pg/ab)
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