Ryszard Siwiec, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ryszard Siwiec

Polish anti-communist

Date of Birth: 07-Mar-1909

Place of Birth: Dębica, Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland

Date of Death: 12-Sep-1968

Profession: teacher, military personnel, accountant, philosopher

Nationality: Poland

Zodiac Sign: Pisces


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About Ryszard Siwiec

  • Ryszard Siwiec (Polish pronunciation: ['r??art '?ivj?t?s]; 7 March 1909 — 12 September 1968) was a Polish accountant and former Home Army resistance member who was the first person to commit suicide by self-immolation in protest against the Warsaw Pact 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 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 person from Central and Eastern Europe to self-immolate in protest of the invasion, and one of three in Polish history (the other being Walenty Badylak and Piotr Szczesny).

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