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Speech by Prime Minister Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende

Speech | 16-04-2010

Brief address by Prime Minister Dr Jan Peter Balkenende at the memorial service in The Hague for the victims of the air disaster in Smolensk.

Ambassador Stanczyk, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Saturday's disaster in Smolensk was a blow to the very heart of Poland. While travelling to an event marking one of the darkest pages in their country's eventful history, President Lech Kaczyński, the first lady and many other prominent Poles lost their lives in a terrible air crash. We can hardly conceive of what this tragedy means for Poland and the Polish people.

On behalf of the Dutch government, allow me to tell you how deeply we feel for you. The Netherlands grieves with the Polish people and we join in the sorrow of our own Polish community here. Above all, of course, our thoughts are with the relatives of the victims. Although I know that words cannot ease their loss, I would like to tell these families: your sorrow is our sorrow. Your pain is our pain. Your shock is our shock.

I knew President Kaczyński personally. I will always remember him as a distinctive, passionate statesman. In the last few days I have often recalled the warm reception he gave me at the presidential palace during my two-day visit to Poland in the spring of 2008. The President spoke intensely, as he always did, about Poland's place in Europe and in the world. His main motivation was his great love of Poland and his unyielding commitment to freedom. In the 1980s, as an activist in the Solidarity movement, he fought successfully to make his country truly free and independent. His battle to establish and gain recognition of the truth about what happened in Katyn won our lasting admiration. It is a cruel twist of fate that he died while on the way to an event marking that tragedy.

I also remember Poland's first lady, Mrs Maria Kaczyńska. She will live on in our memories as a tolerant, honest person with an independent spirit. She was a source of support not only for her husband, but for the entire Polish nation. Her role in helping her country regain its freedom made her loved and respected, both in Poland and abroad.

Last Saturday, in one tragic moment, Poland lost 96 of its citizens: people who had served their country with devotion, and relatives of those killed in Katyn. Among the dead were the last President of the Polish government-in-exile, the army high command, the president of the National Bank, the national ombudsman and several Members of Parliament. We honour all their memories. One of them was Stanisław Komorowski, who was Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1994 to 1998. His special contribution to Polish-Dutch relations will never be forgotten.

Earlier this week I read some words of Lech Wałęsa that made a great impression on me: 'It will take a long time until the wounds of our democracy are healed', he said. I think that his words perfectly express the pain that many Poles are feeling now.

Yet Poland has good reason for hope and confidence. Its hope was symbolised by the sincere, moving embrace between Prime Minister Tusk and Prime Minister Putin at the site of the disaster. That image will always stay with me. And Poland, which has a solid place at the heart of Europe, can be confident of the resilience of the Polish people and the support of its friends - including the Netherlands. We are here for you, as our Polish liberators were there for us in the last months of the Second World War.

I wish you, your fellow Poles and above all the relatives of the victims the strength you will need in coming to terms with your great loss. The Netherlands mourns with you. Polacy jesteśmy z Wami. [Poland, we are at your side.]