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“Something momentous has happened. The meeting of prime ministers of Poland and Russia puts an end to the ‘Katyń lie’ which has poisoned Polish-Russian relations for years,” writes historian Adam Michnik on the front page of Gazeta Wyborcza. Yesterday, Donald Tusk and Vladimir Putin jointly commemorated the 70th anniversary of the massacre of some 20,000 Polish officers shot by the Soviet secret police (NKVD) in the spring of 1940. The Russian prime minister created a general surprise by kneeling at an altar to the dead, but did not issue a much-awaited apology. Most Polish commentators, however, are appeased by his declaration that "there was no justification for the massacre", that we "can't change the past but we can preserve the truth". “I heard from him what I wanted to hear. I never thought I would live to see this day,” said film director Andrzej Wajda whose father was killed in Katyń. Gazeta’s Michnik concludes that “[Putin’s] words bring hope for truth and reconciliation”.
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