Tens of thousands of Poles solemnly lined the streets of Warsaw on Sunday to pay an emotional tribute to President Lech Kaczynski as his body was brought home after a devastating air crash.
Most were dressed in black and many held Polish flags draped with black sashes to honour Kaczynski as his hearse, escorted by police motorbikes, drove slowly from the airport to the presidential palace in the centre of the capital.
Kaczynski was often a divisive figure at home and in Europe because of his populist nationalism, but after his death a shocked Poland was united in grief for the 60-year-old leader.
"Regardless of whether one agreed with his politics, or his views - and I didn't - he was our president, and he died tragically," Andrzej Gerula, a 26-year-old computer programmer, told AFP. "He deserves our respect and our homage. That's why I've come."
Kaczynski along with his wife, the country's top military commanders, the governor of the central bank and other officials were among 96 people killed when their plane crashed in thick fog while trying to land in the Russian city of Smolensk.
In a bitter irony, they were headed to a memorial service for 22,000 Poles massacred by Soviet secret police during World War II, an historic wound which has still not healed despite the passage of 70 years. "I had a dilemma whether to come here or go to a memorial march for Katyn victims, my great uncle was killed in the massacre - but I decided to come here, to honour the president," said Hanna Budzisz, 55.
"The Russians are our historic foes, so I'm very pleasantly surprised by how President (Dmitry) Medvedev and Prime Minister (Vladimir) Putin have reacted," she added. Russia, the European Union, the Czech Republic and Ukraine have all announced national days of mourning while the Brazilian government has declared three days. Budzisz added that the atmosphere among the crowds gathered in Warsaw on Sunday echoed the national unity that Poles remember from five years ago, when they mourned the passing of Polish-born pope John Paul II.