Act of Remembrance for victims of the Polish Air Disaster

Dr. Marek Stella-Sawicki’s speech at Polish Armed Forces Memorial for the Polish Air Disaster at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, Friday, 16th April 2010 at 12:30 p.m.

"It is a sad day that brings us all here together under such tragic circumstances. For it was only 6 months ago when the sun was shining down on The Beat that over 2000 thousand people attended the unveiling of the Polish War Memorial, the spirit of optimism then was high.  Yet even then, the clouds of Katyń hovered over the event, since only a few days prior to the unveiling, President Putin denied all Russian involvement in the massacres of the 20,000 officers of the Polish Army and the cream of Polish society.  On the 17th September 2009, at the unveiling, Baroness Taylor, a minister for the British Government, bravely remembered Katyn and how those martyrs would never be forgotten.

Here we stand today, with Katyń in our minds again, in the aftermath of the greatest government tragedy any country has experienced in the Post War period.  A disaster that ironically once again happened at Katyń on its 70th anniversary. The massacres of Katyń are like a low lying cloud hovering over the Polish nation, linked even to the tragic air crash of General Sikorski’s plane in Gibraltar. He had also challenged the Russians to admit to the massacres, a myriad of conspiracy theories grew up surrounding that event.

Now yet another tragedy linked to Katyń, an air crash that wiped out the elite of Polish politics, army, society and church, but on this occasion few can believe that the Russians had any hand in this tragedy, instead one must admit there is genuine expression of care and a welcome openness and rapprochement from the Russian government towards the Polish government, for so long deeply entrenched enemies.

Let those who died, President and Mrs Lech Kaczynski, President Ryszard Kaczorowski,  Minister Stanislaw Komorowski and Father Bronek Gostomski, just a few amongst the 96 members of the Polish elite, be remembered and that these dark days bring about permanent change to Soviet Polish politics resulting in true stability between these two nations.

In particular, our deepest prayers and condolences go to those who supported the unveiling of this Memorial and who honoured the Polish community in the UK by being present here on Saturday 17th September 2009.

President Ryszard Kaczorowski, who served the Polish community in the UK for so many years.  Minister Stanislaw Komorowski from the Defence Ministry and a potential future President of Poland.  Father Bronislaw Gostomski, who worked tirelessly at St Andrew Bobola’s Church in London raising funds for renovation and increasing the congregation from a mere 200 to tens of hundreds." 

God Rest their Souls
Czesc Ich Pamieci.

View photographs of the Remembrance Ceremony