“ Poles also have been impressed by the way the country and its armed forces continued to function smoothly after the disaster, in which senior politicians and the entire command of the Polish armed forces were killed, these people say. “I feel that Poles, more than at any time in their history, are feeling sure of themselves,” said Mr. Smolar. “Something has changed.”
Kaczynski Poised for Presidential Bid in Poland - WSJ.com
I think this fact is something that most news outlets have failed to mention - precisely because there has been no news: no economic disasters, no dissolution of government, no failures in the armed forces. The state lost an unimaginable percentage of its leadership across the board, and yet there was not even a hiccup in its functioning.
The mourning period ended on Sunday evening, with the burial of Lech and Maria Kaczyński. And on Monday morning, with the exception of some Polish and black flags still waving from doorways, everything was back to normal. This is not to say that the Polish people will forget what happened in Katyń; I have no doubts that April 10th will become a day forever engraved in the Polish consciousness. But as most people only remember the disasters, in this case it’s equally important to note the lack of disasters in the aftermath of such a tragedy.
