Walek and Kocáb: Letter of condolence on Poland’s tragedy

We were terribly shocked to hear the news this morning of the tragic plane crash which has killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, the Army Chief of Staff, leading government figures, and leading church figures not far from the Smolensk airport, in Russia, a mere 20 km from Katyn in Poland. Polish media report that leading journalists were also on board, as were relatives of the victims of the Katyn massacre, many Polish MPs – in short, the elite of the Polish nation.

This event is all the more tragic because Poland, one of our closest neighbors and Slavic friends, had finally achieved a truly dignified commemoration of the tragic events at the start of the Second World War. It was exactly 70 years ago that Stalin and Beria sent to death the entire Polish Officer Corps, which fell into Russian hands after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which divided Poland between the empires of Hitler and Stalin. We express our sincere condolences to all the family members of the victims of this tragedy and we feel deep sympathy with the entire Polish nation over this fateful loss.