Lech Kaczyński

His Excellency  Lech Kaczyński  OIH
President of Poland 4th President of the Third Republic of Poland 3rd elected President of the Third Republic
In office 23 December 2005 – 10 April 2010
Prime Minister	Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz Jarosław Kaczyński Donald Tusk
Preceded by	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Succeeded by	Bronisław Komorowski (Acting)
Minister of Justice
In office 12 June 2000 – 4 July 2001
Prime Minister	Jerzy Buzek
Preceded by	Jerzy Buzek (Acting)
Succeeded by	Stanisław Iwanicki
Mayor of Warsaw
In office 18 November 2002 – 22 December 2005
Preceded by	Wojciech Kozak
Succeeded by	Mirosław Kochalski (Acting)
President of the Supreme Chamber of Control
In office 14 February 1992 – 8 June 1995
Preceded by	Walerian Pańko
Succeeded by	Janusz Wojciechowski
Born	18 June 1949(1949-06-18) Warsaw, Poland
Died	10 April 2010(2010-04-10) (aged 60) Smolensk, Russia[1]
Political party	Independent (2006–2010)
Other political affiliations	Law and Justice (2001–2006)
Spouse(s)	Maria Mackiewicz (1978–2010)
Alma mater	University of Warsaw University of Gdańsk
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Lech Aleksander Kaczyński OIH (Polish pronunciation: [ˈlɛx alɛk'sandɛr kaˈtʂɨɲskʲi]  ( listen); 18 June 1949 – 10 April 2010) was the President of Poland from 2005 to 2010 and a politician of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, PiS).^[2] Kaczyński served as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005, the day before his presidential inauguration. He was the identical twin brother of the former Prime Minister of Poland and current Chairman of the Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński.^[3][4] On 10 April 2010, he died in the crash of a Polish Air Force Tu-154 while attempting to land at Smolensk-North airport in Russia.^[5][6]

Early life

Kaczyński was born in Żoliborz, Warsaw, the son of Rajmund (an engineer who served as a soldier of the Armia Krajowa in World War II and a veteran of the Warsaw Uprising)^[7] and Jadwiga (a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences).^[8] As a child, he starred in a 1962 Polish film, The Two Who Stole the Moon (Polish title O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc) with his twin brother Jarosław.

Lech Kaczyński was a graduate of law and administration of Warsaw University. In 1980 he was awarded his Ph.D. by Gdańsk University. In 1990 he completed his habilitation in labour and employment law. He later assumed professorial positions at Gdańsk University and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw.

Opposition to Communism

In the 1970s Kaczyński was an activist in the pro-democratic anti-Communist movement in Poland, the Workers' Defence Committee, as well as the Independent Trade Union movement. In August 1980, he became an adviser to the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee in the Gdańsk Shipyard and the Solidarity movement. After the communists imposed martial law in December 1981, he was interned as an anti-socialist element. After his release, he returned to trade union activities, becoming a member of the underground Solidarity.

When Solidarity was legalized again in the late 1980s, Kaczyński was an active adviser to Lech Wałęsa and his Komitet Obywatelski Solidarność in 1988. From February to April 1989, he participated in the Round Table talks.

After 1989 political activity

Kaczyński was elected senator in the elections of June 1989, and became the vice-chairman of the Solidarity trade union. In the 1991 parliamentary election, he was elected to the parliament as a non-party member. He was, however, supported by the electoral committee Center Civic Alliance, closely related but not identical to the political party Porozumienie Centrum (Center Agreement) led by his brother. He was also the main adviser and supporter of Lech Wałęsa when the latter was elected President of Poland in December 1990. Wałęsa nominated Kaczyński to be the Security Minister in the Presidential Chancellery but fired him in 1992 during to a conflict concerning Jan Olszewski's government.

Kaczyński was the President of the Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, NIK) from February 1992 to May 1995 and later Minister of Justice and Attorney General in Jerzy Buzek's government from June 2000 until his dismissal in July 2001. During this time he was very popular because of his strong stance against corruption.

Law and Justice

In 2001 he founded the political party Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość – PiS), usually labelled 'conservative' by media, with his brother Jarosław. Lech Kaczyński was the president of the party between 2001 and 2003. His brother Jaroslaw is its current chairman.

Mayor of Warsaw

In 2002, Kaczyński was elected mayor of Warsaw in a landslide victory. He started his term in office by declaring a war on corruption. He strongly supported the construction of the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising and in 2004 appointed a historical panel to estimate material losses that were inflicted upon the city by the Germans in the Second World War (an estimated 85% of the city was destroyed in the Warsaw Uprising) as a direct response to heightened claims coming from German expellees from Poland. The panel estimated the losses to be at least 45.3 billion euros ($54 billion) in current value. He also promoted construction of the museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw by donating city land to the project.

Kaczyński twice banned the Warsaw gay pride parade in 2004 and again in 2005, locally known as the Parada Równości (the Equality Parade), stating that the application of the parade organizers had not been properly filed,^[9] also saying that he did not respect homosexuals' right to demonstrate stating "I respect your right to demonstrate as citizens. But not as homosexuals.”^[9] Additionally, he feared the parade would promote a "homosexual lifestyle" and complained that police did not use enough force in breaking it up by stating “Why was force not used to break up an illegal demonstration?”.^[9][10] Kaczynski referred to the organizers of the gay pride parades as "perverts".^[11] In 2004 his opponents called his actions unconstitutional and he was repeatedly criticised by the Mazowieckie Voivodeship administration, which officially supervises the Mayor of Warsaw. In 2005, he allowed a counter-demonstration, the "Parade of Normality."^[12]

In 2007, Poland, represented by Kaczyński, was found guilty by the European Court of Human Rights of violating the principle of freedom of assembly under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.^[13][14][15]

Presidency

Presidential election

On 19 March 2005, he formally declared his intention to run for president in the October 2005 election. Elected President of the Republic of Poland in defeating the runner up Donald Tusk, by polling 54.04 percent of the vote, Kaczyński assumed office on 23 December 2005 by taking an oath before the National Assembly.

Domestic policy

In his first public speech as president-elect, Kaczyński said that his presidency would pursue the task of ameliorating the Republic, a process which he said would consist of "purging various pathologies from our life, most prominently crime (...), particularly criminal corruption – that entire, great rush to obtain unjust enrichment, a rush that is poisoning society, [and preventing the state from ensuring] elementary social security, health security, basic conditions for the development of the family [and] the security of commerce and the basic conditions for economic development.^[16]

During his inauguration he stated several goals he would pursue during his presidency. Among those concerning internal affairs were: increasing social solidarity in Poland, bringing justice to those who were responsible for, or were affected by communist crimes in the People's Republic of Poland, fighting corruption, providing security in economy, and safety for development of family. Kaczyński also stated that he would seek to abolish economic inequalities between various regions of Poland. In his speech he also emphasized combining modernisation with tradition and remembering the teachings of Pope John Paul II.

On 21 December 2008, Kaczyński became the first Polish head of state to visit a Polish synagogue and to attend religious services held there. His attendance coincided with the first night of Hanukkah.^[17]

Kaczyński memorialized many of Poland’s national heroes known as cursed soldiers who perished at the hands of the Polish secret police, the Soviet NKVD, the SMERSH, and other repressive organs of communist rule. Such national heroes as Witold Pilecki, August Fieldorf, and many others, were posthumously rehabilitated and bestowed with Poland’s highest decorations for valor.

Presidential pardons

From 2005–2007, in accordance article 133 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, Kaczyński pardoned 77 people and declined to pardon 550.

Foreign affairs

Meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart, Dalia Grybauskaitė, in Vilnius at the Presidential Palace, 2010-04-08. This was to be Kaczyński's last meeting with a fellow head of state.

In foreign affairs, Kaczyński noted that many of Poland's problems were related to the lack of energy security and this issue would have to be resolved in order to protect Polish interests. Strengthening ties with the United States while continuing to develop relations within the European Union are two main goals of Polish foreign affairs, as well as improving relations with France and Germany despite several problems in relations with the latter. Aside from those issues, his immediate goals were to develop tangible strategic partnership with Ukraine and greater cooperation with the Baltic states and Georgia. He was greatly admired in Israel, because he promoted educating Polish youth about the Holocaust. There was widespread grief in Israel over his death.^[18]

Defense Minister Radosław Sikorski compared the planned Russia to Germany gas pipeline to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga stated that the pipeline was a threat to Poland's energy security.^[19]

In November 2006 in Helsinki, at a European Union—Russia meeting, Poland vetoed the launch of EU-Russia partnership talks due to a Russian ban on Polish meat and plant products imports.^[20]

Lech Kaczyński and president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, 2008.

As a reaction to claims by a German exile group Preussische Treuhand, which represents post-1945 German expellees from Eastern Europe, the Polish Foreign Minister Fotyga mistakenly threatened to reopen a 1990 Treaty fixing the Oder and Neisse rivers as the border between the two countries instead of the Neighborhood Treaty signed in the same year.^[21][22]

Following the military conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008, Kaczyński provided the website of the President of Poland for dissemination of information for blocked by the Russian Federation Georgian internet portals.

During a state visit to Serbia in 2009, Kaczyński said that the Polish government, on the basis of its constitutional competences, decided to recognize Kosovo and emphasized that he, as the President of the state, did not agree with that.^[23]

Kaczyński had steadfastly supported international efforts to curb international terrorism. Polish Armed Forces took active part in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq alongside the United States, Great Britain, and other NATO countries.

Marriage and family

Kaczyński married economist Maria Kaczyńska in 1978.^[24] They had one daughter, Marta Kaczyńska-Dubieniecka. His brother is Jarosław Kaczyński, the former Prime Minister of Poland.^[25]

Death

Lech Kaczynski lies in state in the Presidential Palace's chapel

On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154M plane was carrying Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria Kaczyńska, and other members of a Polish delegation (top public and military figures of Polish state) from Warsaw to commemorate the Katyn massacre. The plane crashed while approaching Smolensk Air Base in Russia. The governor of Smolensk Oblast confirmed to Russia 24 news channel that there were no survivors of the crash.^[26] 96 people were killed in the crash, including many of Poland's highest military and civilian leaders.^[27][28]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a government commission to investigate the crash. Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, was placed in charge of the investigation.^[29]

State funeral

On 11 April 2010 President Kaczynski's body was returned to Poland,^[30] where he and his wife laid in state at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.^[31] The state funeral was held in Kraków on 18 April 2010. After a Roman Catholic mass at St. Mary's Basilica,^[32] the presidential couple were laid to rest in a sarcophagus, placed in the antechamber to Józef Piłsudski's crypt beneath the Wawel Cathedral,^[33] the resting place of several Polish kings and national heroes.^[34][35] A significant number of foreign dignitaries were unable to attend the funeral, after initially planning to come, as a result of the widespread cancellation of air travel in Europe following the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.^[36]

References

External links

Wikinews has news related to:

• Polish President Lech Kaczyński dies as his plane crashes in Russia
• Polish president and first lady lie in state ahead of funeral
• Burial site for Polish president Lech Kaczynski draws objections

• (Polish)/(English) official website of the President of the Republic of Poland
• Full text of the speech that President Lech Kaczyński would have delivered at Katyn
• Lech Kaczyński at the Internet Movie Database

Mayors of Warsaw First Polish Republic Ignacy Wyssogota Zakrzewski | Józef Michał Łukasiewicz | Andrzej Rafałowicz | Ignacy Wyssogota Zakrzewski | Józef Michał Łukasiewicz and Andrzej Rafałowicz Prussian Occupation Franz Schimmelpfennig von der Ove | Friedrich Georg Tilly Duchy of Warsaw Joachim Moszyński | Paweł Bieliński | Stanisław Węgrzecki Congress Poland Karol Woyda | Stanisław Węgrzecki | Jakub Ignacy Łaszczyński | Aleksander Graybner | Teodor Andrault de Langeron | Kazimierz Woyda | Zygmunt Wielopolski | Kalikst Witkowski | Sokrates Starynkiewicz | Mikołaj Bibikow | Wiktor Litwiński | Aleksander Miller World War I Zdzisław Lubomirski | Piotr Drzewiecki Second Polish Republic Stanisław Nowodworski | Władysław Jabłoński | Zygmunt Słomiński | Marian Zyndram-Kościałkowski | Stefan Starzyński General Government Julian Kulski | Marceli Porowski | Helmut Otto | Oskar Rudolf Dengel | Ludwig Leist People's Republic of Poland Marian Spychalski | Stanisław Tołwiński | Jerzy Albrecht | Janusz Zarzycki | Zygmunt Dworakowski | Janusz Zarzycki Jerzy Majewski | Mieczysław Dębicki | Jerzy Bolesławski Third Polish Republic Stanisław Wyganowski | Mieczysław Bareja | Marcin Święcicki | Paweł Piskorski | Wojciech Kozak | Lech Kaczyński | Mirosław Kochalski (acting) | Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (acting) | Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz

previous ←   Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 1995   → following Winner Aleksander Kwaśniewski Lost in runoff Lech Wałęsa (incumbent) Other candidates Leszek Bubel · Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Tadeusz Koźluk · Jacek Kuroń · Andrzej Lepper · Jan Olszewski · Waldemar Pawlak · Jan Pietrzak · Kazimierz Piotrowicz · Tadeusz Zieliński Withdrew Lech Kaczyński · Marek Markiewicz · Leszek Moczulski · Bogdan Pawłowski

previous ←   Candidates in the Polish presidential election, 2005   → following Winner Lech Kaczyński Lost in runoff Donald Tusk Other candidates Henryka Bochniarz · Marek Borowski · Leszek Bubel · Liwiusz Ilasz · Jarosław Kalinowski · Janusz Korwin-Mikke · Andrzej Lepper · Jan Pyszko · Adam Słomka · Stanisław Tymiński Withdrew Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz · Maciej Giertych · Zbigniew Religa Died before election Daniel Podrzycki