First identical twin heads of state

Poland is the first and only country that was once ruled by identical twin heads of state. The twins, Lech Aleksander Kaczyński and Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński, were born on 18 June 1949. Lech was elected President of Poland and served between December 2005 and April 2010. In April 2010, Lech and his wife, Maria, were killed in a plane crash in western Russia; he was en route to a commemorative event for the Katyn Massacre. Lech represented the Poland’s nationalist-conservative Law and Justice Party that was led by his twin brother. Lech later appointed his brother as Prime Minister, a position he held from July 2006 to November 2007. After Lech’s death, Jaroslav ran for the presidency in a special election, but was defeated. The twins were childhood actors at age 12, starring in a well-known 1962 Polish film titled, The Twin Who Stole the Moon. The only obvious physical difference between them was a mole on Lech’s left cheek. Both twins were/are lawyers, as well as politicians. They received their undergraduate degrees at the University of Warsaw before studying law. Lech studied law at Gdansk University, while Jaroslav studied law at the University of Warsaw.