What does a country do when its president dies? The eastern European country of Poland is finding out the hard way.
On April 10th, 96 people, including the Polish president Lech Kaczynski, crashed in Western Russia while flying to Warsaw (Poland's capital) to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.
The Katyn massacre was one of the many crimes committed during World War II - this one by Russia's secret police. During this period, Poland was divided between Germany and the USSR (Russia). Naturally, many Poles were not happy with this. These people are generally referred to as "nationals" - they want their nation to be independent. Simply put, the Russian leaders decided to take Polish officers, along with many civilians accused of being spies or saboteurs, in various POW camps and murder them all at the same time - the largest was in the Katyn Forest, and so that is what the collective massacre is usually referred to as. When the Germans found a massive graveyard in that same place, any friendly relations between Poland and Russia were cut off. To make matters worse, Russia refused to acknowledge that the massacre happened until 1990.
While flying to Warsaw, the plane crashed rather close to the site and almost immediately the Russian government sprung forth to not only say that they would form an investigation team specifically for this accident, but also offered their co-operation and condolences to the Polish people - something which, considering their histories, completely shocked some. Did they feel somewhat responsible? Did they want to be friends with Poland again? It might be better to say they're just doing the right thing.
After the news got out, the people had the two feelings that would be expected: sadness and shock. The country ground to a halt during all 9 days of mourning as countless memorials sprung up all over the world, most notably, of course, Russia. But once the reality set in, the next question was clear: Now What?
Poland has an interim president while they organize elections, which are set for June 20th 2010. Hopefully their new President can help Poland come out of this one stronger - maybe with a little help from their new friends in Russia.
