LIANE HANSEN, Host: Here in the U.S., Chicago is home to the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw. Tadeusz Czajkowski is the president of the Alliance of Polish Clubs, based in Chicago. He says the tragedy has deeply affected Poles around the world.</s>M: It's tremendous, tremendous grief, tremendous sorrow. We have, as a Polish community, lost again for the second time - this time, 70 years later - a lot of our top officials, a lot of our top generals. We lost quite a few generals on that plane as well as people whose parents or grandparents are buried in Katyn. So again, it is a great loss.</s>LIANE HANSEN, Host: It wasn't just political and military figures who lost their lives. A Polish artist was also on board the plane. Wojciech Seweryn was a Chicago-based sculptor who had designed a memorial to the Katyn massacre in suburban Chicago. He was one of the 97 people on the plane headed to the site of the Katyn massacre, where his father was killed 70 years ago.</s>LIANE HANSEN, Host: You're listening to NPR News.
Poland has begun a week of mourning following the plane crash in western Russia that killed its president. All 96 people onboard died in the accident, which occurred as the pilot attempted to land in heavy fog. Host Liane Hansen updates reaction to Saturday's plane crash.