Ryszard Siwiec

Ryszard Siwiec
Born(1909-03-07)7 March 1909
Dębica, Austria-Hungary
Died12 September 1968(1968-09-12) (aged 59)
Warsaw, Polish People's Republic
Cause of deathBurns from self-immolation
NationalityPolish
Occupation(s)accountant, teacher
Known forself-immolation
SpouseMaria Siwiec (m. 1945–1968; his death)
Children5
AwardsOrder of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk mzz In memoriam (2001)

Order of Polonia Restituta caz Komtur (2003)

Order of the White Double Cross caz In memoriam (2006)

Ryszard Siwiec (Polish pronunciation: [ˈrɨʂart ˈɕivjɛt͡s]; 7 March 1909 – 12 September 1968) was a Polish accountant and former Home Army resistance member who was the first person to die by self-immolation in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Although his act was captured by a motion picture camera,[1] Polish press omitted any mention of the incident, which was successfully suppressed by the authorities. Siwiec prepared his plan alone, and few people realized what he tried to achieve with his sacrifice. His story remained mostly forgotten until the fall of communism, when it was first recounted in a documentary film by Polish director Maciej Drygas. Since then, Siwiec has been posthumously awarded a number of Czech, Slovak, and Polish honours and decorations.

Siwiec's death foreshadowed the much better known self-immolation of Jan Palach in Prague four months later. Siwiec was the first person from Central and Eastern Europe to self-immolate in protest of the invasion.[2][3]

  1. ^ "Jan Palach - Living Torches".
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stolarik was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference rp was invoked but never defined (see the help page).