The test for Poland

There are moments in the history of nations that toughen up the spirit and forge their future. We Poles have just been through one of those moments with the tragedy that occurred on Saturday near Smolensk, in which our president perished along with members of the national elite. The shock and incredulity of the first reactions have given way to despair, pain and sorrow, intensified by the symbolic dimension of the catastrophe. 70 years after the massacre of the Polish elite by the NKVD [Russian People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs], Poland has once again paid a heavy toll on the soil of Katyn. History has just treated us to another ironic twist of fate.

Tragedies and suffering are part and parcel of Poland’s DNA. Fortunately, they go hand in hand with an ability to surmount the greatest difficulties. At times like these, we are capable of bringing out the best in ourselves: compassion, solidarity, dignity and magnanimity. These qualities were visible in the tears of all those gathered together before the empty presidential palace to light candles and pray.

Poland is not alone in its grief. Warsaw is receiving words of consolation and compassion from all over the world. Who would have thought millions of people throughout the planet would share the sorrow of a small Central European country, and that even faraway Brazil would declare three days of national mourning as a sign of solidarity with Poland?

As in the wake of John Paul II’s death five years ago, the effect of the Smolensk tragedy has been to strengthen the bonds of the Polish nation and make us forget our existing differences and political quarrels. Some people immediately began wondering how long this upheaval would last. It has to last if we are to cope with the challenges that lie ahead.

Those challenges are manifold. Within two weeks we will be apprised of the date of the early presidential election. No-one knows who will be the best-placed candidate or whether the Law and Justice Party will run a candidate for the presidency after the death of Lech Kaczynski.

But before that we will have to fill vacancies at the top of the military hierarchy, in the presidential cabinet, the national diet and senate, and appoint a new governor of the Polish Central Bank. So the weeks to come will put our political leaders, our institutions and our whole society to the test. Let us hope Poland can pass that test with flying colours. Maciej Zglinicki