Ryszard Siwiec

Ryszard Siwiec 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.