caption death_date death_place birth_place nationality birth_date alt known_for image article_title name occupation
ryszard siwiec 's self-immolation 12 september 1968 warsaw , people 's republic of poland dębica , austria-hungary polish 07 march 1909 ryszard siwiec 's self-immolation self-immolation ryszard siwiec stadion x lecia.jpg ryszard siwiec
 ryszard siwiec accountant , teacher
ryszard siwiec

ryszard siwiec -lrb- ; 7 march 1909 -- 12 september 1968 -rrb- 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 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 person from central and eastern europe to self-immolate in protest of the invasion , and the only one in polish history .
