Photo: In Prague, a Pole was remembered who burned himself after the occupation of Czechoslovakia
A memorial service was held at the Polish Institute in Prague to honor the memory of the Pole Ryszard Siwiec, who set himself on fire in Warsaw in September 1968 in protest against the August occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops.
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A memorial service to honor the memory of the Pole Ryszard Siwiec, who set himself on fire in protest against the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in 1968.
| Photo: Deník/Radek Cihla
A large-format painting by Ondřej Vyhnánek was also presented to the public for the first time, which will temporarily form the background of Siwiec’s monument in Žižkov in Prague.
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“This is the cry of a dying free man!” That was the cry of the burning Ryszard Siwiec on September 8, 1968, who died four days later. A 59-year-old Polish official and father of five children set himself on fire during the harvest celebrations at Warsaw’s Decade Stadium. Although the self-immolation took place in a stadium full of people, it was kept quiet for a long time. The communist government of the time took care of that. There was not a single newspaper report about Ryszard Siwiec’s act.