FT_Weekend_Magazine_-_April_4-5_2020

20 FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020

Theghosts

of Smolensk

Tenyearson from the air crash inRussianwoodland

that killedPoland’spresident,the political and personal

scarsremain.ByJamesShotterandHenryFoy.

PhotographsbyOksanaYushkoandAdam Panczuk

The siteof the crashin

woodlandnearSmolensk,

wheretheonlyremaining

evidence isasimplewooden

cross leaningagainst a

shorn-off treetrunk

FT.COM/MAGAZINE APRIL 4/ 52020 21

Atfirst,Marcin Wierzchowski

didn’trealise anythingwas wrong.

WaitingwithotherPolishofficialson

achillyairfield nearSmolensk one

morninginApril 2010 ,heheard the

distinctivewhoosh of the Tupolev

Tu-154 air force jet bringing Pres-

identLechKaczynski andahost of

other state officials to theRussian

city.Thentherewassilence.

TheTu- 15 4nevercameintoview.

Instead, in thick fog,itcrashedinto

woodland short of the airfield, kill-

ing Kaczynski and all 95 others

onboard. When Wierzchowski

reachedthe site minuteslater,

allthatremainedwas devasta-

tion.“Twopeopleinwhitecoats

jumpedout of [an ambulance] and

ran into the forest.Iran after them.

And after around 100 metresIsaw

the crash site. The wreckedplane,

scattered bodies.Totalpulp,”he

recalls.“It was inagrove,not a

dense forestbut sort ofathicket.

Thereweresome bigger treesbut

mostlybushes.

“I sawthe scale of the trag-

edy.It was horrible. The plane was

split into shreds...Isawone bigger

engineandwheels upside down.”

Wierzchowski, apresidential

staffer,wasrequiredtoidentifyKac-

zynski’sbody.

Withinminutes,newsofthetrag-

edyhadbeenrelayedtoRadoslaw

Sikorski, the foreign minister,at

his home near Bydgoszcz in north-

westPoland.“Asalwaysin such

cases,it wasn’tentirelyclear at

first what happened,”hesays.“But

then, literallyfiveminuteslater,the

ambassadorwhowaswaitingforthe

delegation was on the spot among

the charredremains of theplane,

and seeing thebodiesofvictims.I

was connectedto him, andIasked

him: could anybodyhavesurvived?

No.AndtheRussiancontrollerssaid

that the plane hitatree. SoIstarted

raisingalarms.”

The crash in Smolensk was

Poland’sworst national disaster

since the secondworldwar.Ata

stroke, thecountry lost its presi-

dent,thecommandersofitsground,

sea, air and special forces,senior

priests,its central bank chief and

other dignitaries.FormanyPoles,

April 10 will foreverbetheir9/11: a

moment of deep shock and mourn-

ing that left an indelible imprint on

thenationalpsyche.

Tenyearson,the disaster has

left other lasting scars.Ithardened

bitterpartisandivisionsbetween

liberalsandconservativesinPoland

thatcontinue to shapethe coun-

try’spolitics.And it castRussia, for

centuriesPoland’smost danger-

ous and disruptiveneighbour,as

Warsaw’suntrustworthy adversary

once more, scupperingatentative

detente withMoscowand plunging

Polandbackintoadeepsuspicionof

the Kremlin that has onlystrength-

enedinthedecadesincethecrash.

AsWierzchowskistoodamidthe

wreckageoftheTupolev,thewheels

of succession of thePolish state had

alreadystartedturning. Sikorski

calledthe speaker ofPoland’spar-

liament BronislawKomorowski,

who,according to the constitution,

wouldhavetotakeonthepresident’s

duties.Komorowskijumpedinacar

to race back toWarsaw.But when

oneofhisaidescalledAndrzejDuda,

Kaczynski’stop legal adviser,tosay

thatKomorowskiwould takeover,

Dudainitiallyrefusedtoacceptit.

“I asked:‘Onwhat basis?’” says

Duda, who todayisPoland’spres-

ident.The answer came that it was

stipulatedinthe constitution. “I▶