Poland, in a state of mourning, awaits repatriation of bodies of president, first lady

Poland awaits return of president’s body

WARSAW, Poland — Poland was enveloped in mourning Sunday, with many attending church services to mark the loss of President Lech Kaczynski and many of the country’s elite in a plane crash in Russia.

At the Field Cathedral of the Polish Army, hundreds gathered for a morning Mass and left flowers and written condolences. Among the dead a day earlier were Poland’s army chief of staff, the navy chief commander, and heads of the air and land forces, who were all making the emotional trip to honor Polish officers slain by the Soviet secret police in 1940 in and near the forest of Katyn in western Russia.

One mourner, Boguslaw Staron, said he turned out to honor Kaczynski, “a great patriot.”

“He taught Poles how to respect our traditions, how to fight for our dignity, and he made he made his sacrifice there at that tragic place,” said Staron, 70.

A nationwide two-minute silence was scheduled at noon (1000 GMT; 6 a.m. EDT). The bodies of Kaczynski and his wife were expected in Warsaw by early afternoon, the Foreign Ministry said.

Saturday evening, Kacyznski’s twin brother Jaroslaw flew to Smolensk and identified the bodies.

People also continued to stream to the stately presidential palace in Warsaw’s historic center, where large sections of the street were blocked to traffic to allow the flow of people expressing their grief. Mourners carried candles and roses and joined a long line to sign a book of condolences in the palace.

Children also placed simple drawings and messages of mourning: “I love our president,” said one, alongside a picture of a human figure and a cross.