On 8 December 2021, the Park of Polish-Hungarian Friendship in Veszprém – a city located southwest of Budapest – saw the official unveiling and consecration ceremony of a commemorative plaque honouring the former President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński.
"President of the Republic of Poland. Advocate of Polish-Hungarian friendship" – reads the inscription engraved in Polish and Hungarian under the bust of Lech Kaczyński. Photo by Radek Pietruszka / PAP
On 10 April 2010, a Tu-154M government plane was carrying the Polish delegation to the ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyń massacre. The machine crashed near the Russian city of Smoleńsk. There were 96 fatalities, including the Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria.
The initiative to commemorate Lech Kaczyński in Veszprém was put forward in January 2018 by the Polish Ambassador to Budapest, Professor Jerzy Snopek. He also delivered one of the speeches at the unveiling ceremony of the plaque on Wednesday, highlighting that the President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński "was a great man and a true statesman". During the ceremony, the Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland Wojciech Kolarski read out a letter from President Andrzej Duda, who emphasised both the importance of the one thousand-year-old Polish-Hungarian friendship and the role of President Lech Kaczyński in the history of Poland and the entire Central and Eastern Europe. Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, also noted in his letter – read out by Katarzyna Ratajczak-Sowa, First Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Budapest – that President Lech Kaczyński was "a true advocate of Polish-Hungarian friendship and a great friend of Hungary and Hungarians". Minister Szynkowski vel Sęk also recalled that the city of Veszprém hosted the Polish-Hungarian Friendship Days in 2018. "Together, both our countries are attesting to the fact that the voice of the region cannot be ignored" – the deputy head of Polish diplomacy noted in his letter.
– We are unveiling a commemorative plaque to Lech Kaczyński: the president and a great citizen of his nation. Lech Kaczyński was also the initiator of the Polish-Hungarian Friendship Days – emphasised Gyula Porga, Mayor of Veszprém.
The ceremony in Veszprém was also attended by the Rector of the Polish parish in Budapest, priest Krzysztof Grzelak, who consecrated the commemorative plaque. The plaque, created by the talented sculptor Michał Wiśnios, was funded by the Polish Embassy in Budapest, the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Municipal Assembly of Veszprém and the Polish Self-Government of Veszprém. Minister Wojciech Kolarski, Ambassador Jerzy Snopek, Zoltán Csallóközi – Principal Advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, Mayor of Veszprém Gyula Porga and President of the Polish Self-Government of Veszprém Hanna Kövesdi all laid wreaths under the plaque, accompanied by a guard of honour made up of Polish and Hungarian soldiers.
The plaque dedicated to the memory of Lech Kaczyński in Veszprém is yet another instance of the symbolic commemoration of the late Polish leader. On 6 April 2018, a monument to the victims of the Smoleńsk crash "Memento-Smolensk" was unveiled and consecrated in Budapest. The monument bears the names of all the victims of the Smoleńsk crash. – The monument commemorating the victims of the Smoleńsk plane crash is a beautiful gesture which is to strengthen Polish-Hungarian friendship – said Jarosław Kaczyński at that time. – This monument is nothing more than such a beautiful gesture, which is to strengthen our friendship. It is a beautiful gesture also because those who built it, who initiated its construction know, remember that the Smoleńsk tragedy is strictly connected to a different tragedy – that of Katyń – emphasised the leader of the Law and Justice Party.
Prime Ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor Orban, as well as Zsolt Nemeth, head of the Hungarian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, also took part in the unveiling ceremony in 2018. – The fact that our Hungarian brothers are not only trying to understand it but also to commemorate it, thus building a bridge of remembrance for the past deserves the greatest gratitude – added the Polish head of government Mateusz Morawiecki in Budapest. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also focused on the importance of the friendship between Poles and Hungarians. – There could have been Ottoman, Habsburg and Soviet invasions or even National Socialist dictatorships. We succeeded in opposing them, as we stood shoulder to shoulder – the head of the Hungarian government noted in Budapest.
(JAP)