State Funeral of Kaczyński

The Sunday after Auschwitz, was the Polish President’s funeral. My friends and I were interested in seeing what the Polish state funeral would be like since we were there for such an important time in Polish history. Interestingly, in the days leading up to the funeral there had been many small protests to burying the president in the cathedral of Wawel Castle. This was because burial in the cathedral had been reserved for kings and national heroes. Many people believed that Kaczynski was not a national hero and did not like his politics, but I have heard from many people to think of his burial in the cathedral as a symbolic memorial to all the people who died in the plane crash. I think that kind of thinking is why there were not bigger protests.

The morning of the funeral we were not able to get into the main market square where the catholic services were being held at St. Mary’s Church. The closest we got was to the outskirts of the square, but there we could see anything anyway. After saying that we had gotten as close as we could, we all decided to go to a really big park in Krakow, called Blonia Park, where they had two large screens set up in order to see the funeral mass. My roommate and I tried to stay for the whole service, but it was kind of strange for me since it was a mass after all. All the people did the standard kneeling and sitting that they would do at an indoor service. There were even priests outside giving out Eucharist to people who wanted it. 

Once the service was close to finishing, we ran over to Grodska street where the funeral process would take place on its way to Wawel castle. There we tried to get as close to the street as possible so we could take pictures, but yet again the crowds were too big. We also had to stand around for a long time waiting and waiting. The casket finally made it past where we were standing and all the people started to clap and take pictures. I think the burial in the castle itself was private.

Overall, the state funeral was boring, but I am glad that I went in order to be apart of the Polish History.