Bugle Player, St. Mary’s Church
Krakow, Poland

This week, Chicago’s huge Polish community is mourning the loss of Poland’s president and dozens of political, military, and religious leaders who died in a plane crash on Saturday in Russia. Ninety-six passengers died in the crash which occurred in a thick fog near the Katyn forest, where Josef Stalin’s secret police in 1940 systematically executed thousands of Polish military officers in the western Soviet Union.  President Lech Kaczynski and those aboard the plane were actually heading there to honor the dead.

Approximately one million Chicagoans are said to be from Poland or of Polish descent.  It’s been said that Chicago has the second highest population outside of Warsaw.

See more about my time in Poland here.

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