Ryszard Siwiec

Who was Ryszard Siwiec?

Ryszard Siwiec was a Polish accountant by profession, and former Home Army resistance member. He was the first person to commit suicide by self-immolation in protest against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia. Although his act was captured by a motion picture camera, Polish press omitted any mention of the incident, which was successfully suppressed by the communist 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 honors and decorations.

Siwiec's death foreshadowed the much better known self-immolation of Jan Palach in Prague four months later. Siwiec was the first self-immolation protester from Central and Eastern Europe, and the only one in Polish history.