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Maria Helena KaczynskaPolish economist and public figure, wife of the 8th President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski
Date of Birth: 21.08.1942
Country:  Poland |
Content:
Biography of Maria Helena Kaczyńska
Maria Helena Kaczyńska was a Polish economist and public figure, as well as the wife of the 8th President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński. She tragically lost her life in a plane crash in Smolensk.
Early Life and Education
Maria Kaczyńska was born on August 21, 1942, in the Nazi-occupied Vileyka region of Germany (modern-day Myadel district, Minsk region, Belarus). Her father, Czesław Maciejewicz (1910-1976), was an ethnic Pole who worked as a forester in the Vilnius region. Her mother, Lidia Maciejewicz (nee Piszczak) (1916-2004), was a teacher who was born in Petrograd.
During World War II, Maria's father participated in the partisan war against the Germans as part of the Home Army, one of his brothers fought in the Polish 2nd Corps of General Władysław Anders in the Battle of Monte Cassino, and another brother was executed in the Katyn Forest. Only after the end of World War II, the Maciejewicz family repatriated to Poland, settling in the town of Rabka-Zdrój in the Kraków Voivodeship, where Maria completed her secondary school education.
After finishing school, she moved to Sopot, where she enrolled in the Higher School of Economics, majoring in Transport and Foreign Trade Economics. Upon completing her studies in 1966, Maria Maciejewicz began working at the Maritime Institute in Gdańsk, where she met Lech Kaczyński, the future president, in 1976.
Personal Life
In 1978, Maria married Lech Kaczyński, and in 1980, they welcomed their daughter Marta. Maria Kaczyńska was fluent in English, French, and had a basic understanding of Spanish and Russian.
Tragic Death and Burial
Maria Kaczyńska was on board the plane with her husband, who was traveling to pay tribute to the victims of the Katyn Massacre when the Tu-154 aircraft crashed in Smolensk. A total of 96 people lost their lives, including Lech and Maria Kaczyński. Maria's remains were identified later (through her wedding ring), and her coffin was flown from Moscow to Warsaw two days later (on April 13) and placed next to her husband's coffin for public farewell at the Presidential Palace. On April 17, the coffins were solemnly transferred to the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist.
Maria Kaczyńska was laid to rest alongside her husband on April 18, 2010, in the crypt beneath the Tower of Silver Bells in Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, not far from the tomb of Józef Piłsudski. The family expressed their wish for her sarcophagus to bear the double name "Maciejewicz-Kaczyńska." Maria was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland in 2010.
