Fatal Crash Shocks Northwest Side Poles

by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI

      Chicago’s Polish-American community is grieving the death of the president of Poland and 95 other Polish leaders in Russia over the weekend, with numerous memorial services held throughout the city.

      The plane that was taking them to Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre by Soviet

forces of some 20,000 Polish leaders crashed in dense fog early Saturday, April 10, in a forest near an airport in Smolensk, killing all aboard, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, age 60, his wife, Maria Kaczynska, age 66, and top government officials, military officers and other society leaders.

      “It’s a very devastating tragedy for the people of Poland, the Polish Americans in Chicago and just Poles all over the world,” said Polish National Alliance president Frank Spula. Spula said that the Polish community was overwhelmed when it heard the news but that the people of Poland are resilient and that they will make it through the national disaster.

     Spula said that the association was preparing for Kaczynski’s visit to the United States that was scheduled from April 29 to May 1 and that he was scheduled to meet with the Polish secret service for a walkthrough of the PNA headquarters on April 13. Kaczynski has been the president of Poland since 2005.

      “I was speechless when I got the phone call,” Spula said. “We were supposed to see him at the building on May 1.” Spula said that the group is working to plan a memorial service. 

      Spula said that that the loss is immense because Poland has lost a president who cared about democratic issues including human rights. Kaczynski was going to Russia to mark the Katyn Forest Massacre of 1940, in which Polish military officers and civilian intellectuals were executed by Soviet secret police after the Set Union invaded Poland following a pact between Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler to carve up the country.

      Spula said that he knew at least 20 of the people who died in the crash. “These were people I knew, and they were brilliant people,” he said.

      Among those who died in the crash was Chicago resident Wojciech Seweryn, age 70, a native of Poland and an artist who designed a monument to the Katyn Massacre at Saint Adalbert Cemetery in Niles. Beginning Saturday the area around the monument began filling up with mourners who left flowers, lit candles and shed tears. Seweryn’s father was among the officers who were killed in 1940.

   Copernicus Foundation president Gregg Kobelinski said that Kaczynski also planned to visit the Copernicus Civic and Cultural Center following the Polish Constitution Day parade on May 1. Kobelinski said that the festival and celebration after the parade was to be held at the Copernicus Center instead of at Navy Pier for the first time this year.

      Kobelinski said that whether to go ahead with the celebration has not been decided. “It’s a sensitive issue and we need to decide what we will do,” Kobelinski said. Kobelinski said that once news of the crash broke, many local organizations held memorial services throughout the city.  “Most of the people have gone to church, because for many Poles that is the center of the social community,” he said. “That’s where the Poles naturally turn to."

     Kobelinski also talked about the connection to Katyn. “It certainly publicized what happened in Katyn and made many people aware for the first time what happened,” he said. “What a tragic way to have that come to light again in such a way.” 

     Polish American Association executive director Gary Kenzer said that the Polish consulate general’s office in Chicago was swamped with people who were waiting to sign the condolence book. Kenzer said that the association has created a virtual memorial book on its Web site where people can leave their thoughts and prayers. The site can be reached at www.polish.org. 

      Kenzer said that the circumstances behind the tragedy are bitterly ironic and that some may view it as a step backward in the relations between Poland and Russia. “But the country will survive and rebuild, and they have to grieve and let the healing begin,”Kenzer said. 

      A memorial service for the victims of the crash and marking the anniversary of the massacre will be held at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 25,at Saint Hyacinth Basilica, 3636 W.Wolfram St., followed by a memorial at 2:30 p.m. at Saint Adalbert, 6800 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles. 

      A dinner will be held at 4 p.m. at the White Eagle restaurant, 6839 N. Milwaukee Ave., Niles. The cost is $40.

      For more information, call 773-934-1720.