By Judy Dempsey
BERLIN — They were practically inseparable.
From the time they were born on June 18, 1949, until Saturday, when Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash in western Russia, the identical twin brothers, Jaroslaw and Lech, did almost everything together.
Eye-catching with their blond hair and angelic smiles and distinguishable only by the mole on Lech’s cheek, the twins became famous in Poland by starring at age 12 in a film version of “The Two Who Stole the Moon,” a popular Polish children’s story. Lech went on to become president, Jaroslaw to become prime minister.
Jaroslaw has said little since the death of his brother as he ponders the deep sense of loss of a twin brother with whom he shared so much. But just as they shared a particular view of Poland based on patriotism and Roman Catholic values, they had differences in temperament.
Jaroslaw was the driving force in 2002 in creating their nationalist, conservative party, Law and Justice, bringing together under one umbrella a motley collection of traditionalist Roman Catholic and populist movements.
Lech was the more popular political figure, just as nationalist but more accommodating, willing to make compromises. He even signed the Lisbon Treaty, intended to give the European Union certain powers at the expense of its national governments, something that some of his more nationalist supporters resented.
“Law and Justice is in big trouble,” said Eugeniusz Smolar, senior fellow at the Center for International Relations in Warsaw. “The party has no obvious candidate to stand for the presidency. And after the death of Lech, Jaroslaw will be very, very distraught”.
Growing up as devout Roman Catholics, the twins went to Mass together. They both studied law. They joined the anti-communist Solidarity underground movement, advising its leader, Lech Walesa, the shipyard worker who was later elected president of Poland. Lech Kaczynski, born 45 minutes after Jaroslaw, was imprisoned when the Polish Communist Party, at the instigation of the Kremlin, imposed martial law in an attempt to crush Solidarity in December 1981, when the twins were 32 years old.
Once Lech was released from prison, the twins worked together again, continuing their support for Solidarity. They sat together at the 1989 round table negotiations in Warsaw that paved the way for the peaceful transition from Poland’s one-party state to democracy, a move that helped lead to the collapse of the Soviet empire.
“The twins were incredibly close,” said Krystyna Iglicka , a sociologist. “Lech’s death is an immense loss in so many ways for Jaroslaw. It is far from clear what will happen to his political party”.
Jaroslaw, supported by Lech, was the driving force in establishing Law and Justice as a party intended to make a clean break with Poland’s communist past.
In a major speech he made soon after becoming prime minister in July 2006, Jaroslaw argued that Poland became only “partially democratic” after 1989 because previous governments had been unwilling to rid the security services and the administration of informers and Communists. Law and Justice would change all that, Jaroslaw vowed.
Appointed by his brother, who was installed in the Presidential Palace in the center of Warsaw in late 2005 when Law and Justice was swept into power, Jaroslaw embarked on policies aimed at purging the administration and public television of those they viewed as opposed to their hard-right values.
But Jaroslaw’s tenure as prime minister ended in failure.
His fractious coalition proved impossible to manage. It included the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families, which is linked to the ultra-Catholic and nationalist radio station Marya. The League of Polish Families wanted to outlaw gay schoolteachers and force the schools to adopt a curriculum that was more based on Catholic values. It regarded the European Union, which Poland had joined in 2004, as ultra-liberal, and it complained that Brussels was determined to undermine Poland’s sovereignty and traditions.
Law and Justice’s other coalition partner, the peasant-based and populist Movement for Self-Defense, also made many demands on Jaroslaw that he found difficult to meet. And its leader. Andrzej Lepper, hurt the government when he was accused of corruption and unable to explain his mysterious connections to Russia’s secret services.
In the end, after two years of scandals, resignations and strident nationalist policies that alienated the European Union and Poland’s two powerful neighbors, Russia and Germany, Law and Justice was ousted from power in October 2007 after it was defeated in parliamentary elections by Donald Tusk’s center-right Civic Platform.
Since then, while Lech remained president, his party has been struggling to regain its popularity.
But with Lech’s death, the party is now at a loss over whom to choose to run for president against the Civic Platform candidate, Bronislaw Komorowski, who as the speaker of Parliament, the Sejm, is now acting president.
“It is too early to say what will happen to Law and Justice and to its leader,” said Marek Cichocki, who was Lech’s foreign policy adviser. “I cannot even speculate. The loss and shock is too great. Maybe we will know more in a few weeks”.
Jaroslaw was Lech’s protector and spent all the time he could in advising and helping his brother.
“Jaroslaw was always there for Lech,” said Ms. Iglicka, the sociologist.
But even though Law and Justice has been plummeting in the opinion polls in recent months, Ms. Iglicka said no one should rule out the possibility that it could revive, carried forward on a wave of public sympathy.
“If you look at this outpouring of grief for the death of Lech and all those who died in that plane crash, there must be some feeling of guilt, some feeling of remorse for those who criticized the president so much,” Ms. Iglicka said. “What no Pole can deny is that Lech was a patriot. That might have an impact on the future of Law and Justice”.
Much depends on how long Jaroslaw will remain at the helm of the party, and how credible whoever emerges as its candidate for president turns out to be. The elections must be held before the end of June.
“There is a need for a conservative party in Poland,” Ms. Iglicka said. “Look at the rest of Europe, where many countries are led by conservatives. Maybe we might have a generation change in Law and Justice that could make it more attractive for the younger generation”.
The New York Times
