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Poland Mourns

Tens of thousands of people in Warsaw watched a procession of full military honor carry the coffin of President Lech Kaczynski through the streets today. Kaczynski was killed along with 96 others, including many top officials, in a plane crash that devastated the country’s government.

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Mindaugas Kulbis / AP Photo
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People light candles and lay flowers in front of the Polish embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Mindaugas Kulbis / AP Photo
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Mourners lay candles and flowers outside the Presidential Palace in memory of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski on April 11, 2010 in Warsaw, Poland. Kaczynski, his wife Maria and leading members of the Polish military and government were killed when the presidential plane they were travelling in crashed while attempting to land at Smolensk, Russia, the day before. The delegation was on its way to attend memorial services for the thousands of Polish military officers murdered by the Soviets during World War II at Katyn.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images
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Polish Army soldiers carry the coffin with late Polish President Lech Kaczynski after arrival at the military airport in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, April 11, 2010. Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and some of the country's highest military and civilian leader died on Saturday, April 10, 2010, when the presidential plane crashed as it came for landing in fog near Smolensk, western Russia.

Alik Keplicz / AP Photo
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, 2nd from left, and Polish Ambasador to Russia Jerzy Bahr, left, stand next to the coffin of Polish President Lech Kaczynski during a farewell ceremony at the Smolenk airport on Sunday, April 11, 2010. The remains of Polish President Lech Kaczynski killed Saturday in a devastating plane crash with 95 other people have been sent home.

RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky / AP Photo
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A portrait of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski lies among a sea of candles and flowers laid by mourners outside the Presidential Palace on April 10, 2010 in Warsaw, Poland.

Sean Gallup / Getty Images
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A Catholic nun watches a special service for the victims of the plane crash in Smolensk in a Catholic Cathedral in Bucharest, Sunday, April 11, 2010.

Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo
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Faithful wave Polish flags adorned with black ribbons as Pope Benedict XVI is projected on a giant screen in St. Peter's square at the Vatican while delivering his blessing from the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, Sunday, April 11, 2010. Pope Benedict XVI offered condolences to Poland on Sunday following a plane crash that killed the country's president and other senior officials, saying he was praying for the victims and the "beloved" Polish nation. Poles holding up the red-and-white banners of the Polish flag sang mournfully after the pope spoke during his noon blessing from the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Benedict said he had learned with sadness of the crash and the deaths.

Andrew Medichini / AP Photo
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Hungary's Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai lays a flower outside Poland's Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 11, 2010, for late Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia, as they were on their way to a memorial for the murdered Polish soldiers by the Soviet Secret Service 70 years ago in Russia's Katyn.

Laszlo Beliczay, MTI / AP Photo
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People light candles in front of Jaroslaw Kaczynski's house in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, April 10, 2010. Jaroslaw is the former prime minister and twin brother of Polish President Lech Kaczynski who died Saturday morning in a plane crash near Smolensk, western Russia.

Alik Keplicz / AP Photo
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People cry in front of the Polish Embassy in Lviv, Western Ukraine, Saturday, April 10, 2010. Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and some of the country's most prominent military and civilian leaders died Saturday April 10, 2010 along with dozens of others when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog near Smolensk in western Russia.

Petro Zadorozhnyy / AP Photo
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Polish Army soldiers salute with the army flag during a special Mass dedicated to the presidential plane crash victims at the Polish Army Field Cathedral, in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, April 10, 2010.

Alik Keplicz / AP Photo
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Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, left, Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusiewicz, center, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk pay tribute to the victims of the presidential plane crash during a nationwide two minutes of silence in front of the Polish Parliament, in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, April 11, 2010. Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and some of the country's highest military and civilian leader died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came for landing in fog near Smolensk, western Russia.

Alik Keplicz / AP Photo
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, and Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, visit the crash site of the Polish presidential plane, in which Polish President Lech Kaczynski died, near Smolensk, western Russia.

Alexei Nikolsky / AP Photo
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This image from Polish Television's TVP via APTN shows a firefighter walking near some of the wreckage at the crash site where Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and some of the country's most prominent military and civilian leaders died Saturday April 10, 2010 along with dozens of others when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in near Smolensk in western Russia.

TVP via APTN / AP Photo
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When the plane crashed, the government officials were on their way to commemorate the anniversary of another tragedy, the Katyn massacre. This is a view of a partially emptied mass grave in the Katyn forest where a massacre of some 20,000 Polish prisoners of war took place, May 1943, near Smolensk, Russia. Col. John H. van Vliet is shown in the group at the edge of the trench, and van Vliet is convinced that the Russians, not the Germans, were responsible for the massacre.

AP Photo
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The corpse of a Polish commander, one of 20,000 prisoners who died in Katyn, is found in some pits, discovered by the Germans in April, 1943.

Roger-Viollet / Getty Images
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A picture taken on April 1, 1943 shows men digging out bodies of Polish officers from a mass grave in Katyn. More than 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet security forces in the Katyn forest and other sites in 1940. They had been captured by the Soviet army after its September 1939 invasion of Poland under the terms of a secret pact with Nazi Germany.The Nazis discovered the officers' mass grave after they invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other people were killed on April 10, 2010 when the president's plane crashed on landing in the western Russian city of Smolensk, officials said. Kaczynski was on his way to attend official ceremonies in Katyn.

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