An ordinary man’s cry

Ryszard Siwiec 1909–1968

ISBN 978-83-8098-450-9

Table of Contents

PRL and the Prague Spring

Self-immolation

A man

SB activities

Publicity

Remembrance

About the project

PRL and the Prague Spring

The Prague Spring – a term used to describe a period of political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia.

This gradual process of implementing reforms began on 5th January 1968 when Alexander Dubček was appointed the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, and ended in August 1968 when the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia in the operation codenamed “Danube”. Armed forces of the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria participated in the operation. (East Germany forces did not actually enter Czechoslovakia due to fears for possible psychological and propaganda effects – only the representatives, particularly liaison officers, participated in the operation). Over 26,000 soldiers from 2nd Polish Army commanded by Brigadier General Florian Siwicki participated in the operation.

Alexander Dubček aimed to introduce ‘socialism with a human face’. This approach did not assume that the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was to resign from running the country but intended to introduce elements of pluralism. Social life was reviving, numerous political clubs and public organisations were being created, cultural life was flourishing, preventive censorship was abolished, and the press and television functioned in a new way. Rehabilitation processes of people sentenced by communist authorities began.

The residents of Prague are sitting on a Soviet tank, 21st August 1968, Wenceslas Square in front of the National Museum building

AKGi Reporter/East News

Destruction in the streets of Prague, 21st August 1968

AKGi Reporter/East News

Polish Army Units in the town of Hradec Králové

Fot. Leszek Łożyński.

AKGi Reporter/East News

The Prague Spring did not go unnoticed in the People’s Republic of Poland. Both communist authorities and the society reacted enthusiastically to the situation at the southern neighbour’s. Unfortunately, despite propaganda efforts the government’s and the citizens’ reactions did not coincide. The situation was influenced by the recent events in Poland, in March 1968.

For the Polish society the anti-Zionist campaign which started in 1967 as well as increasing limitations to freedom of speech (the symbol of which was the act of taking off, at the end of January 1968, the performance of ‘Dziady’ directed by Kazimierz Dejmka in the National Theatre) were a sign of abandoning the mottos from October 1956 promoted by Władysław Gomułka’s government. They definitely contrasted with the reforms in Czechoslovakia and did not indicate that the Polish authorities were inclined to take similar steps.

These predictions were confirmed in the acts of brutal pacification of students in Warsaw on 8th and 11th March 1968, and then in Gdańsk, Kraków, Łódź, Poznań, Gliwice and Katowice. At that time a call “Poland is waiting for its own Dubček” was coined. Not only was it a sign of solidarity with Czechoslovakian transformations, but also hope for a similar scenario to happen in Poland due to the resistance movement and despite the difficult situation. After all, it was protesting students in Prague that opened the way to changes in the party leadership and reforms.

The Security Service operational photo from the manifestation in Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

The Security Service operational photo from the manifestation in Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

The Security Service operational photo from the manifestation in Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

As a matter of fact, the protests of Polish students were very popular in Czechoslovakia. A number of universities passed sympathy resolutions, and articles condemning the repressions of students and people of Jewish origin by the authorities in the People’s Republic of Poland were published in the press.

The protests of students and intellectuals spread across the country, but until the end of March 1968 they were pacified by the authorities. Students (hundreds of whom were conscripted into the army) and teachers (the Warsaw University lecturers received job offers from their Czech colleagues from the Charles University in Prague) were being removed from universities, the independence of universities was limited, and unruly students were replaced with the politically correct ones. In media a smear campaign was launched against ‘troublemakers’ and ‘Zionists’, who were being blamed for ‘deceiving and leading other students astray’.

Dear Comrades!

Important events have taken place in our country in the last ten years. A considerable part of the student population in Warsaw but also in other academic centres in the country have been deceived and led astray by enemies of socialism.

These enemy forces have sown the seeds of unruly anarchy and law-breaking practices amongst students. By means of provocation they agitated the minds of some students, pushed for street fighting and bloodshed.

Illegal student gatherings and street demonstrations triggered a question: What is happening? Why are students protesting against the state authorities?

The attempts to use Mickiewicz’s poetry, which arose from patriotic fighting against the tsarist oppression, in order to slander Poland should be considered political fraud as it misrepresents the deepest, democratic and progressive meaning of Mickiewicz’s artistic work.

Now, when the alliance with the Soviet Union, friendship with the reborn and socialist Russian nation is and will remain the foundation of safety, independence and the guarantee of development for Poland, it is our responsibility to eradicate from our minds, without distorting and misrepresenting history, relics of old and bygone conflicts instead of reinforcing them and causing trouble. This is a patriotic and internationalist imperative – the two features which belong to the most beautiful tradition of the Polish nation and the Polish working class.

It is easy to imagine what the face of the Polish nation would be like if in 1944 instead of ‘ignoramuses’ the ‘enlightened’ had come to power. We would live in Poland without the Western Territories, in conflict with the Soviet Union, poor, backward, overpopulated, dependent on Germany and imperialist empires, would be a pawn in their game, would mean nothing because there wouldn’t be a place for such Poland in contemporary Europe.

An excerpt from Władysław Gomułka’s speech, 19th March 1968

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party Władysław Gomułka’s attitude towards the Prague Spring was negative from the very beginning. He warned Alexander Dubček against dangerous effects of the reforms which were being introduced. He was worried about possible deconstruction of the Soviet Bloc and probably for this reason as the events unfolded he vehemently supported the intervention of the Warsaw Pact forces behind the southern border.

Anti-Czech propaganda campaign was spread all over the country. By means of the whole media machine (press, radio, television) the society was being threatened with consequences of Czechoslovakian reforms and, above all, threats from ‘West German revisionists’. Meetings of POPs [pol. podstawowa organizacja partyjna, e.g. basic party unit] were being organised on a large scale where it was stated that ‘Zionists’ and ‘revisionists’ were responsible for reforms introduced at our southern neighbour’s and their sole aim was to destroy socialism.

The cover of a propaganda publication

Private collection. Material used in Petr Blažek’s album “Ryszard Siwiec 1909–1968”, Warsaw 2010

There isn’t room for fanfares or enthusiasm here. There is room for concern, the type of concern one feels when nursing a sick person and waiting for them to stand up on their own. There is determination, the type of determination you have when you try to save a drowning person – the day will come when a convalescent is able to see and understand who wanted to save them and who wanted them to drown.

We look to the future confidently. It’s because we managed to, just in time, frustrate the plans of the Czechoslovakian counter-revolution supported by, and to their fury, imperialism and international reaction, particularly the West German one. This way we are carrying out the motto: “No more Munich! No more September!”, “For your freedom and ours”. Long live our Homeland – People’s Republic of Poland! Long live people’s army! Long live our sister Czechoslovakia! Long live indissoluble Polish and Soviet friendship! Long live peace!

An excerpt from Polish Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz’s speech, 31st August 1968

After the intervention in Czechoslovakia and despite information conveniently prepared by the propaganda machine, the voices of outrage and condemnation dominated in Poland. The Security Service which meticulously made records of riots and disturbances supporting Czechs and Slovaks, as part of the operation codenamed “Podhale”, only between 21st and 31st August recorded 2147 leaflets and 86 “enemy” inscriptions against the invasion. The Security Service intercepted hundreds of anonymous letters protesting against the intervention. About 80 people were detained and several hundred ordered to attend ‘preventive and cautionary talks’, several dozen sentenced to up to three years in prison.

An inscription on the wall against Władysław Gomułka’s Czechoslovakian policy

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

One of numerous leaflets against the intervention

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

Flower laying at the Czechoslovakian embassy was a form of protesting and demonstrating solidarity. Intellectuals and the people of culture protested too, although these were rather individual cases.

The best-known was eminent writer Jerzy Andrzejewski’s letter to the president of the Czechoslovakian Writers’ Association Prof. Eduard Goldstücker.

Jerzy Andrzejewski’s letter

The collection of Adam Mickiewicz Literature Museum

Sławomir Mrożek, who was in Paris at that time, published his statement in “Le Monde” journal. Jan Lebenstein, a painter and a graphic artist, also submitted an open letter. In Paris “Kultura” Zygmunt Mycielski, a composer and a columnist, published “An open letter to Czech and Slovakian musicians”. Kazimierz Wierzyński, an excellent poet, published a shocking poem “For Jan Palach’s death”.

For Jan Palach’s death

In Saigon Buddhists used to set themselves on fire

no one stopped them from burning till the end

people were standing around the square

looking until they dried

on fire

black

squatting

bony scabs

we thought religion made us indifferent to their death

that one could die by choice

go into fire of one's own free will

to achieve eternal non-existence

a quarter of an our earlier

we thought they were different

that it was there, not here

and things were done differently

and very few were ready to cross the ocean

to find them still alive

read their charred faces

and their meaning

but now we know everything

now the fire is ours

here someone is burning for himself

and for us

burning of his own free will

in the middle of his own nation

no one from the remote world

stops him from burning till the end

they are sleeping in the squares, squatting

until chipped cinder turns into ash

no one runs up to them still alive

nor wants to read what's written on the face of Prague

where the tradition of fire buried in ash was suddenly sealed

Golden City

don't see a young man off

to rotten ground

to the cemetery

give him to us

ghostly cemeteries

of our lives

he's burnt and is still burning

dying but living on

glowing in the middle

wants to leave as soon as he can

the funeral from this burnt offering

mix with the future

into the crowd

don't give him to the ground

don't stop him on his way

we need him

he might attack us with fire

all of us asleep

he'll hit us with it when we're still in darkness

Some academics from universities and the Polish Academy of Sciences returned their party membership cards in protest. Amongst those who withdrew from the Polish United Workers' Party were Bronisław Geremek, Krystyna Kersten and Tadeusz Łepkowski.

The most dramatic act of protest against the Warsaw Pact’s intervention in Czechoslovakia was Ryszard Siwiec’s act.

Self-immolation

The concept of self-immolation – strongly related to the Buddhist and Hindu tradition – is alien to Judeo-Christian tradition where suicide is considered evil, which hurts you and your community, as well as transgression against God - the creator of life. For this reason every act of suicide (particularly in public) becomes the topic of animated discussion and the reasons for this act are investigated.

On 11th June 1963 a Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire in Saigon, at a busy intersection in the city centre. He wanted to protest against the dictatorship of a Catholic president Ngo Dinh Diem and the persecution of Buddhism in Southern Vietnam. It was not the first or the last act of a Buddhist monk’s (or a nun’s) self-immolation in the history – it became known in the whole world thanks to a widely distributed photograph taken by Malcolm Browne. In Buddhism self-immolation, although it still remains unusual and not at all common, is accepted – particularly in China and Southern and Eastern Asia. It must also be remembered that this act of self-destruction, is understood not as an act of despair and helplessness, but evidence of commitment and courage. A Buddhist who chooses to die this way abandons passivity in the face of evil and destruction. In an active way but free of violence against others, he/she warns against destruction which self-immolation is the symbol of. It is also a warning and an attempt to stop an individual from walking down the road of destruction. Self-immolation can be understood as a cry, but not of despair but rather a warning, and – in this cultural context – an offering made by an individual in the interest of the whole community.

The act of self-immolation by a Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc

Everett Collection/East News

The photograph taken on 11th June 1963 was awarded the Photograph of the Year in the World Press Photo Contest (1963) and gave Malcolm Browne the Pulitzer Prize (1964)

Malcolm Browne himself recalled in which circumstances the photo was taken:

It was at night on 10th June 1963. Duc called me and said: Mr Browne, please come to such and such pagoda tomorrow at 6am. Something really important is going to happen. I knew instantly that it was unusual – a crowd of Buddhist monks and nuns had gathered, many of them were crying. Two young monks took out a plastic petrol can, poured it all over the older one and took a step back. Thich Quang Duc lit a match which he had kept on his stomach and set himself on fire. I was dumbstruck; I felt a cold sweat come over me. With great difficulty I managed to concentrate on the focus, exposition and the activity of taking the photo. I was terrified. On many occasions I was asked if I could have stopped this suicide. I couldn’t. There was a tight group of about 200 monks who were ready to block me if I had tried to move. Some of them threw themselves in front of fire engines. However, after all those years I feel I contributed to this death. That this monk wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t been sure of the presence of a reporter who would then be able report the whole thing to the world (quotation from wikipedia.org)

The photograph was distributed around the world, not only in media but also through the Chinese government which attempted to turn this image into a symbol of ‘American imperialism’ (photos of other Buddhist monks and nuns committing the acts of self-immolation as a protest against the war in Vietnam were used in a similar way).

The acts of self-immolation by Buddhist monks were used by the propaganda of the Eastern Bloc as a symbol of fighting American ‘militarism’ and the war in Vietnam. Images widely discussed in official media reached the Eastern Bloc nationals where, apart from overtones that the authorities were interested in, inspired people who searched for possibilities for ‘waking up’ indoctrinated societies and shouting out their protest against communism.

When a Buddhist monk committed an act of self-immolation he decided on making a painful sacrifice, he wanted to announce with his screaming hat he had something important to say. Physically nothing in the world hurts more than a burn. A Buddhist monk who decided to make this sacrifice committed an act of self-destruction, but there was also something creative in this act.

Rev Prof. Józef Tischner about the Buddhist idea of self-destruction

The extract comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas “Hear My Cry”

In the context of events in Czechoslovakia the act of self-immolation by a 21-year-old student Jan Palach from the Charles University in Prague on 16th January 1969 became the most famous incident. (You can learn more about other acts of self-immolation on www.janpalach.cz ). Unfortunately, the radical protest of Ryszard Siwiec which took place earlier went unnoticed.

Ryszard Siwiec prepared his act very carefully: he drew up his will; 3-4 days before he left, he managed to get the pass to the harvest festival which took place at the 10th- Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw. He had his photo taken at the photographer’s; his family collected it after his death. He bought solvent and prepared leaflets which he then took with him to Warsaw. The day before, he went to the castle in Przemyśl and accompanied by two friends recorded his message on a cassette tape. On 7th September in the morning he said goodbye to his family. He took his son’s inexpensive watch, left him his, much more valuable, as a keepsake. On the train to Warsaw, in the early hours of the morning on 8th September, he wrote a goodbye letter to his wife (she received it many years later as it was intercepted by the Security Service):

Dear Marysia! Don’t cry! Don’t waste your energy, you’ll need it, I’m convinced that I’ve lived for 60 years for this moment. Forgive me, I couldn’t do it any other way, for the truth not to be forgotten, for the humanity and freedom – I’m dying. But it’s the lesser of two evils – like the death of millions, don’t come to Warsaw, nothing can help me anymore, we’re approaching Warsaw, I’m writing on the train and that’s why it’s a little crooked. I feel so good, I feel so calm, so peaceful – like never before in my life!

Shots from the movie recorded by the Security Service officer Lieut Tadeusz Czyżewski and then attached to the documents of this case codenamed “Wawel”. In later years the sound track, as well as a voice-over commentary were added. A fragment was then attached to the series of twelve films which served as a training programme for security service officers. A false piece of information appears in the film, namely that it was made in 1969. Most likely this was done deliberately in order to avoid associations with the intervention in Czechoslovakia and the events in March 1968.

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance.

Several hours later at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium – in the presence of 100,000 people including the authorities – with Władysław Gomułka as the main guest – dramatic events took place. Exactly at 12.15 pm in section 13 which was located near the parade box (the pass allowed the entrance to section 37) Ryszard Siwiec poured solvent all over him and lit fire. He was burning whilst standing. Among other things he was shouting “Long live free Poland!” “This is a free, dying man’s cry!” “Don’t rescue me, look what’s in my briefcase!”

People standing next to him moved several metres away and watched him from a safe distance. It took them a few minutes to put him out; he was making it very difficult himself trying to escape and defending against those who were trying to help him. Although all his clothes had burnt on him, he didn’t lose consciousness. He left the stand on his own, clumsily supported by militia officers. He was taken to hospital not by an ambulance but an unmarked Security Service car.

The celebrations were not stopped even for a moment. On the field groups carried on dancing; music was coming from loudspeakers. Siwiec’s briefcase remained at the stadium. It contained, among other things, a white and red flag with an inscription “For your freedom and ours. Honour and Homeland” as well as leaflets which began with words: “I protest against unprovoked aggression against our sister Czechoslovakia...”

As a result of extensive burns (second and third degree burns covering 85% of his total body surface) Ryszard Siwiec died on 12th September 1968 in the Prague Hospital in Warsaw.

I

We started the second part of the report, the second part of the programme which was definitely harder, but for the reporter also more rewarding.

More difficult, because it’s really tricky to talk about dancing on the radio but with Sławek Szof, who I was doing this transmission with, we came up with this idea that we’d speak to the beat.

So when a group that danced polonaise turned up on the field, we spoke in a swinging and sliding way so that we could describe these stripes, these wonderful clothes to the beat of a polonaise. The same with waltz, and so on. And so on.

Suddenly I heard a hum, an alarming buzz, like when you are at a football match and you focus on the game but all of the sudden a fight starts. But first there’s the buzz, the anxiety, and then you start paying attention and trying to find out where it’s coming from and notice that something is happening.

II

When the harvest wreath was being laid I spotted that in the section under mine people had dispersed and there was this massive column of dark smoke.

III

It was sheer coincidence that I was at this stadium. I wasn’t following what was going on there but I do remember that it was a beautiful day, blue sky, young people were dancing, music was playing and then in the adjacent section fire broke out.

IV

In the nearby tunnel young people were preparing to perform. And at some point one the group members shouted:

“Mum, there’s a fire!”

I ran out in front of the section and I saw a tall column of smoke, people screaming and a person on fire.

V

Of course, I had a 180 mm lens camera with me, on a tripod stand. I was looking through the lens, and I saw what was happening on the other side of the stadium more closely. Very clearly I saw a man on fire.

III

People started to run away, they were saying: vodka, the man caught fire because of vodka. I saw that man; he was trying to break free from those trying to put him out.

IV

People are running away, screaming, shouting, and I have to look after the young people with me, stop them from going there, what would they go there for?

II

I took my jacket, quickly jumped off, I mean, I ran down and tried to put that man out by throwing my jacket onto his head.

I managed to do it; I smothered the fire for 2-3 seconds when I suddenly felt intense heat from underneath.

VI

And he was shouting: “Down with communism! Down with Gomułka!” and so on, about Soviets, and so on, there was everything in his repertoire. It’s hard for me say at this moment but when I threw my jacket onto his face he was so burnt already that his skin with his hair, everything came off him and was on my jacket. Blood and so on. It was shocking:

eyes bleeding, ears bleeding, he’s burnt all over, everything together: skin, hair, and so on... It’s a really shocking sight. But I managed to put him out, but the only thing left on him in terms of clothes was his belt he was holding onto.

II

A man on fire is a horrific sight. I saw him change colour, like a chameleon, from purple, green to red.

His hair was standing up, like flagpoles.

He was on fire and people were shouting: madman, loony!

III

The men sitting next to me, in civilian clothes, brought a black briefcase and they were looking through it. The papers were a typescript which said that this man did it in protest against what had happened in Czechoslovakia.

I knew it straightaway. One of them even said that if he could, if he had a gun, he’d shoot him.

I

For a moment I trembled, or it was rather a tingling sensation.

Something I hadn’t experienced and wouldn’t want to ever experience again but I will never ever forget this sensation.

I had to pull myself together because I had to go on with the broadcast; anyway, we had texts so we concentrated on those. Another dance, another colourful image, we went on with the broadcast.

III

The ambulance came and people tried to shepherd him there, but they were scared to touch him. The doctor as well, in a white doctor’s coat, wanted to do something but he was afraid to touch him.

He was below me for a while and was shouting something but the music was playing and we couldn’t hear him.

He was shouting a lot.

Statements of witnesses to the events at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium.

The extract comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas “Hear My Cry”

A man

Ryszard Siwiec was born on 7th March 1909 in Dębica where he also finished primary school. After his father died, he moved to Lviv with his mother.

First, he continued his education in Jan Długosz secondary school and then in the Humanities Department at Jan Kazimierz University which he graduated from with a Master’s degree in Philosophy. After graduation he started working in the Tax Office in Lviv. In 1936 he moved to the Tax Office in Przemyśl.

The photo of Ryszard Siwiec’s class in Jan Długosz secondary school in Lviv, 1920’s

The collection of the Siwiec family

Summer camp in Petlikowice, near Buczacz, 1926

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec’s student card from Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec (first from the right) during his studies in Lviv

The collection of the Siwiec family

University times

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec (third from the left) in the army

The collection of the Siwiec family

With friends, 1920’s

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec (from the right), 1930’s

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec (standing second from the left) with employees of the Tax Office, Przemyśl, 1937

The collection of the Siwiec family

During Nazi occupation he left his job in the office as he didn’t want to, he used to say, collect taxes for the invader. He found a physical job at the urban greenery centre. He was sworn into the ranks of the Home Army and for several months he was hiding in the area of Zbydniów in Tarnobrzeg district. In 1942 he returned to Przemyśl and started working for a wholesome fruit and vegetable company Olff Köpke & Co.

As a physical worker looking after urban greenery in Przemyśl, 1940–1941

The collection of the Siwiec family

As a manager of a fruit and vegetable collection point in Przemyśl (sitting), his later wife Maria fourth from the left, 1942–1945

The collection of the Siwiec family

As a manager of a fruit and vegetable collection point (second from the left), his later wife Maria sitting first from the left, 1942–1945

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec’s Arbeitskarte (work card)

The collection of the Siwiec family

After the War he rejected a teacher’s post refusing to teach rubbish. From 1946 together with Jan Wojnarowicz he produced wine. After the company was nationalised in 1952 he continued working there but not as a co-owner but an ordinary employee – as a legal adviser and chief accountant. Until his tragic death.

Maria and Ryszard Siwiec’s wedding photograph, 1945

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec with Stanisław Łącki, a lawyer and friend from Lviv, and his daughters Elżbieta and Innocenta in Lipowica (the outskirts of Przemyśl), 1950’s

The collection of the Siwiec family

Jan Wojnarowicz (first from the left) and Ryszard Siwiec – former co-owners of the Wine and Honey Manufacturing – with employees, August 1959

The collection of the Siwiec family

The Siwiec family (from the left: Innocenta, Mariusz, Ryszard, Adam, Elżbieta, Maria) with friends (a 303 Squadron pilot Witold Łukociewski and Mariusz Maciebach) before entering the tenement house in Przemyśl, where the family lived, June 1961

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec in the castle in Przemyśl, spring 1968

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec, 1968.

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec’s last photo, collected from the photographer’s after his death

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec brought up 5 children. His family remembers him as an enlightened man, Catholic and a fervent patriot who cultivated national traditions. He loved literature - his book collection consisted of about 3,000 tomes. He also had an impressive collection of pipes. He was a sportsperson. He was excellent at skiing and swimming. Before the war he used to play hockey in the first team of ‘the Blacks’ in Lviv. For many years he typed leaflets on his own typewriter “Erica” and signed them with his pen name Jan Polak. His daughter Elżbieta who studied in Wrocław used to put them into letter boxes. Ryszard Siwiec never agreed with the political situation after Soviets entered Poland. He refused to accept the communist ideology and the totalitarian system, the symbol of which were the dramatic events on 8th September 1968.

Tadeusz Kamiński (cousin)

For many years Ryszard was a quiet man. He didn’t reveal his deep thoughts and experiences.

And then after 1960 he suddenly started sharing his thoughts, experiences and feelings with the people around him.

It reminds me of a volcano eruption which is dormant for many years, prepares for and eruption and then suddenly erupts. It was how Ryszard suddenly erupted and started revealing his thoughts.

In 1968 when the Warsaw University students were being beaten with truncheons by the militia and so-called workers, he felt it was his personal failure. He felt insulted and personally completely violated.

Janusz Janiszewski (friend)

I think it was an idée fixe.

That he decided it was his idée fixe, so that – I believe – he could sacrifice and make those Poles who had simply sold out to the government feel guilty. It was his protest.

I believe, I’m convinced from the conversations, it’s very hard to repeat them, but they revolved around one subject which was the atmosphere of the time. The atmosphere of dissatisfaction, slavery, humiliation, social inequity. This might sound cliché but let me tell you, he was a very strong and determined person.

Tadeusz Kamiński (cousin)

He hoped that the whole society through those gathered at the 10th- Anniversary Stadium would understand that the existing regime had to be fought, that hypocrisy and lie had to be fought.

That the Polish cause had to be fought for.

Maria Siwiec (wife)

My husband used to say that God came first, then Homeland and then family. He thought in these terms.

Innocenta Siwiec (daughter)

Father was a very righteous man. Sometimes so righteous that it was difficult to bear.

Adam Siwiec (son)

I imagine that he would have done it again if we could go back in time.

Ryszard Siwiec being rememebered by his family and a friend

The fragment comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas ‘Hear My Cry’

His own words recorded the day before he went to Warsaw best convey his intellectual background and beliefs:

Polish nation! We must not allow for the fourth partition of Poland to happen!

We must not forget the horrendous crime that happened in Katyń!

We must not allow for our national traditions, culture, history and patriotism to be killed!

Poland can be free and democratic without the intervention and interference from foreign empires.

We must not allow for our Polish mothers” and fathers» faith to be taken away from us!

We must not allow for our wonderful young generation to be poisoned with the venom of foreign ideology which we will never accept!

[...]

We must protest against the participation of our forces in invading Czechoslovakia which is not compatible with our national honour!

We must not contribute to the crime of genocide!

We must not allow for the venom of Anti-Semitism to be instilled in us!

Long live free and independent Poland!

[...]

You are sending tanks to Czechoslovakia today only because the whole nation is demanding, horror of horrors and eternal shame for 20th century and us – freedom of speech! [...]. Freedom from fear, which means limiting all-powerful security forces. And because they want to build human progressive socialism. Forces representing almost 300 million people invaded 14 millions of Czechs and Slovaks. They openly invaded a small, peaceful country which didn"t put up any resistance. The shame of this act speaks for itself. It will forever remain one of the darkest periods in your history. And you have plenty of such stains. The whole world has already judged you. Everyone has condemned you.

[...]

People! People! Wake up! [...] Don"t let them murder you! How is it possible for a group of people to gain total control!? [...]

Hear my cry! An ordinary man"s cry, a son of the nation who loves his and others” freedom more than anything, more than his own life! Come to your senses! It"s not too late!

The fragment of the recording from 7th September 1968.

Ryszard Siwiec

The fragment of the recording from 7th September 1968.

The fragment of the recording from 7th September 1968.

To authorities and owners of the Soviet Union.

To working masses, farmers and workers. To Soviet writers and intellectuals. To young people, the future of all nations.

Lenin said: every nation which subjugates other nations has to fall, it’s nothing new; it’s a common truth, a law of history and development. Do you think that your empire won’t fall because you called this act of subjugating liberation? That you call a lie – the truth, slavery – freedom and absolute tyranny of an irresponsible political clique – democracy? That you called the act of replacing the exploitation of a man by another man with total exploitation by a single monster capitalist, a state, socialism?

That you called your fight for world domination – the fight for peace? I’m asking you – why are you convinced that you are the only ones in the history of human kind who will be able to build and maintain an empire built on violence, suffering and injustice? Which nation given a real choice will choose a system based on yours? No nation, no country. Because your system hanging on bayonets and taken to other countries on the Red Army tanks, your system forced upon them and brutally maintained is neither a dictatorship of proletariat, nor communism, socialism or democracy. There is no price that couldn’t be paid for this system not to control the world. People, people, wake up! Young people, the future of the nation, don’t let them murder you every 20 years for different ‘isms’ to come or go, for this or the other group to take control over the world. You, who still haven’t forgotten the most beautiful word in the world – Mother! You, who still might have a spark of humanity, human feelings, come to your senses! Hear my cry, an ordinary, simple man’s cry, a son of the nation, who loved his and your freedom more than anything, more than his own life. Wake up, it’s still not too late.

SB activities

All-Poland harvest festival celebrations, with the presence of the party and state authorities were protected by the Security Service from the preparation stage.

Apart from militia officers many officers in civilian clothes were present at the stadium. The event was being photographed and filmed. For this reason it was possible to find a film which enabled a partial reconstruction of the events at the 10th– Anniversary Stadium. The film is currently stored in the documentation of the Security Service in the Institute of National Remembrance.

The fragments of Security Service materials collected during the investigation into distributing anti-national leaflets by Ryszard Siwiec

The collection of the Institute of National Remembrance

First steps taken by the Security Service officers directly after Siwiec had set himself on fire was securing the scene. Also, they forbade people from photographing and confiscated several negatives. Further activities took place outside the stadium. The investigation against Ryszard Siwiec was launched on the same day. He was accused of ‘public distribution of leaflets containing false information on political and social situation in the People’s Republic of Poland which might have caused social unrest’. The investigation was conducted by the Security Service officers from the People’s Militia Regional Headquarters in Warsaw, first by Capt. Kazimierz Masewicz and then Lieut Tadeusz Wirkowski. On the very same day the Security Service searched Ryszard Siwiec’s house and workplace. At the hospital Ryszard Siwiec was isolated from other patients and only appointed medical staff had access to him. The staff were told not to speak about it with anyone. Even his family had difficulties in visiting him. The patient was constantly monitored and all his words were recorded.

My life is nothing in the face of the destruction that humanity is threatened with. My death and the death of my family mean nothing. Long live the truth, freedom, humanity, long live democracy, long live Constitution! Die total terror spreading around the world! I don’t have any accomplices. I protest on my own. There has to be someone who will cry out: stop! No! I’m crying out on my own – no!

An excerpt from shorthand notes on Ryszard Siwiec’s statement, taken in hospital on 10th September 1969.

Finally the investigation was dismissed on 16th October 1968 due to his death. The Security Service imposed a complete news blackout on the events at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium. They wanted to hide Siwiec’s reasons for his actions and they spread rumours that he was insane.

I

When a patient, a burnt person, is admitted, there is a set of standard questions, e.g. how it happened. And here the patient says that he has set himself on fire. And a logical follow-up question is why he did that. And then the patient explains the reason why he has poured petrol all over himself and set himself on fire.

II

On the ward buzz, noise, hustle and bustle, everyone busy.

I peeped into the room: the patient was separated from the whole ward and was in the surgical dressing room. The bed was pushed away from the wall, around it there were stands, drips, and the patient like a mummy, in bandages. Conscious.

I

When my colleague explained what had happened people started saying: crazy, psychopath, and so on.

One of them said angrily that the whole Polish nation had been so indoctrinated that when Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in protest against something we called them saints but when one of us did the same thing for, say, political reasons we called them psychopaths, loonies.

II

Everyone was told that everything the patient said had to be recorded, repeated. We had to watch who was coming and if someone came to visit, we had to instantly make a phone call.

The code digit was ‘0’ and after dialling this digit someone from Mostowski Palace was supposed to pick up the phone immediately.

We had different attitudes towards this but no one really made a call.

III

A few weeks after this situation at the stadium I was called, invited together with fire fighters who participated in the rescue action, to the Police Headquarters, where a meeting accompanied by a glass of cognac took place. We were thanked; I received a bonus and the boys – savings books.

IV

And of course we were once again reminded to hold our tongues.

We were told the man who had set himself on fire died three days after the incident. That he was a freak from Przemyśl, not fully sane, and he wasn’t such a poor man but he started to go crazy for some reason. And that he was simply an enemy of our system.

The medical staff as well as a militia officer and a fireman who were present at the Stadium recall the events on the first days after 8th September.

This fragment comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas “Hear My Cry”.

Publicity

Ryszard Siwiec’s act didn’t reach the media, didn’t shock public opinion, went unnoticed. The steps taken by the Security Service to prevent the information leak turned out effective.

I

If I’d been closer, I might have been more interested but from that distance you can only see things... Looking at this man on fire I wasn’t emotionally engaged.

II

In general people weren’t paying attention because we were focused on our things and thought of what had just happened as of an incident, something that had already finished.

III

Radio listeners didn’t hear anything about it in our transmission. Why? Two words of explanation. Mainly because the background music consisted of lively kouiaviaksand cracoviennes. How do you say in that moment that something is on fire, something is happening? If the band had stopped playing, the reporter would have had to react, say why they had stopped playing, there would have been a point of reference and we would have started to report.

IV

And we had been trained as well to do what he had to do and not to do other people’s job, because no one was going to print it anyway and there could also be some trouble.

III

We were dumbfounded, and we couldn’t describe it well. I’m sorry but would you be able to describe the death of a man on fire?

V

The biggest shock for me was that it all went back to normal, that another lot of young people were allowed out of the tunnel and they started to dance a jolly mazurka or something like that, I can’t remember.

That the sky was still blue and the music was playing. And I remember pigeons, too.

...I remember pigeons...

The fragment comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas ‘Hear My Cry’

Those who saw what happened at the Stadium probably talked about it but how little they knew and how much of a gossip rather than a reliable piece of information it was, proves an excerpt from ‘Dzienniki’ [eng. Journals] by Stefan Kisielewski:

They are still saying that at the harvest festival, in the presence of Wiesio i Józio, someone poured petrol all over them and set themselves on fire. But it’s still not clear whose side they were on – of course no mention in the media. Commies have hard hearts – for example Ho Szi Min who leaves the nation to destruction and doesn’t care. Politique d'abord – they call it. They keep Americans in the check because they have nuclear bombs, H bombs (‘h’ as in ‘huj’ [eng. cunt] but apparently you spell it ‘chuj’. I’m starting to think that Americans are cunts). A new holiday in Vietnam: napalm Sunday.

Stefan Kisielewski, “Dzienniki”, Warsaw 1996, p. 98.

Wiesio refers to Władysław Gomułka, pseudonym “Wiesław”, Józio – the Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz

First news about the tragedy at the Stadium which might have reached a wider public was published behind the Iron Curtain:

The cover of the French weekly magazine “Le Nouvel Observateur” and a mention of the events from 8th September 1968

The collection of the Sejm Library

on 27th January 1969 the French weekly magazine “Le Nouvel Observateur” mentioned the event, which was later reprinted by the London weekly magazine “The New Statesman and Nation”. It was after the death of Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in Prague on 16th January 1969. This act was widely discussed in the media.

The front page of the English weekly magazine “The New Statesman and Nation” together with an excerpt from the article and a letter doubting the truth about the act of self-immolation

The collection of the Sejm Library

It wasn’t until April 1969 when quite a seriously distorted piece of news on Ryszard Siwiec’s act of self-immolation was published in a London magazine “Na Antenie” where the texts of selected Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasts were printed:

Polish Living Torch

A French leftist weekly magazine “Nouvel Observateur” was the first magazine which revealed on 27th January in K.S.Karol’s article that several months before Palach’s death during the harvest festival celebrations at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw an unknown man poured petrol or alcohol all over him and whilst shouting something out, set himself on fire with a match. Apparently, it happened directly after Gomułka’s speech in which he justified the August armed aggression against Czechoslovakia, at precisely the same moment when the show part of the celebrations began. The flame rose to several metres and everyone immediately ran away from the victim. The Security Service officers put out the fire and took the suicide to the ambulance which in turn took him to the hospital.

K.S. Karol’s article was then reprinted in English in a socialist London weekly magazine “The New Statesman and Nation” on 7th February.

In the very same magazine in the ‘letters to editor’ section William Woods expressed his doubts as to whether the dramatic suicide described by Karol had really taken place.

It is of course possible – Woods writes – that an engineer from Przemyśl burnt alive at the Warsaw Stadium but if this had happened, the whole of Warsaw would have found out within a few hours. The town is abuzz with all kinds of rumours, and Radio Liberty (Poles call it Western Warsaw) has the most ingenious ways of obtaining information and sending it to those who still haven’t heard it. I just simply cannot believe that what was common knowledge in Warsaw, wouldn’t have reached Radio Free Europe or the Western press.

Blushing at this flattering opinion we must admit, unfortunately, that in this instance K.S. Karol and not William Woods was right.

The news of the suicide at the Stadium reached Radio Free Europe shortly after the tragic incident. However, it seemed so unlikely that the Station didn’t broadcast it. We thought the way Woods did. How could a scene like this have gone unnoticed by a considerable group of foreigners – diplomats and foreign correspondents who were in the stand? The riddle was solved later.

The suicide, an engineer in his fifties from Silesia, and not a 30-year old man from Przemyśl, like K.S. Karol said, wanted his protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia to be noticed by Gomułka, above all. For this reason he positioned himself right under the PUWP First Secretary’s stand, in front of the tunnel from which competitors come out to the field. There is a hollow in this very spot so the protesting man could not be seen by those who were in the side stands. When the flames engulfed him, he ran towards the tunnel and disappeared from the sight of the crowds at the stadium. The Security Service officers managed to get to him in the tunnel and put the flames out. It remains unknown if he died in the hospital four days later like the “Nouvel Observateur” columnist reports. In any case, a Pole’s suicide sacrifice protesting against the invasion of Czechoslovakia went unnoticed, home and abroad.

“Na Antenie” no. 72, 30 March – 6 April 1969

Masthead “Na Antenie”

The collection of the Sejm Library

Remembrance

In Poland the first attempt to reach the society and remind them of Ryszard Siwiec was made by his family who in 1981 and published underground a booklet on him. However, it wasn’t until the transformation in 1989 when his dramatic act was brought back to the collective memory.

In September 1990 at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium in Warsaw a plaque commemorating him was affixed. Even when the stadium was demolished and the National Stadium built, the hero was not forgotten. A monument dedicated to Siwiec and a street named after him are located in immediate proximity to the stadium.

The cover of the booklet published in 1981

The collection of the Siwiec family

Previous plaque at the 10th- Anniversary Stadium

Fot. Authors

The contemporary obelisk in Ryszard Siwiec Street next to the National Stadium

Fot. Jacek Adamiak

The contemporary obelisk in Ryszard Siwiec Street next to the National Stadium

Fot. Jacek Adamiak

The contemporary obelisk in Ryszard Siwiec Street next to the National Stadium

Fot. Jacek Adamiak

In 1991 a film ‘Hear My Cry’ and a radio drama ‘The Will’ were made. Both were directed by Maciej Drygas. He tried to answer a question why such a great tragedy was concealed. Why did such a dramatic and drastic protest which took place before masses of people turn out to be futile?

I

And then when the transmission was over we started thinking. Why did this man set himself on fire during the show, the dancing and not during Gomułka’s speech? Because, I’m convinced, if it had happened during the speech, the buzz of the stadium would have distracted him, like us.

The speech would have been interrupted and the whole world would have seen it.

II

The situation with Siwiec was like a train crash. I never... It didn’t fit my way of thinking. I just can’t explain it. Maybe because for us, Poles, suicide is culturally unacceptable. I don’t know.

I

It feels to me that his protest which ended so tragically was very unsuccessful. It dissolved in these Polish folk dances. In colourful ribbons we were talking about.

II

I thought it was better for him that he died. That of all things that would have happened to him in life, death was probably a better option.

Now, years after I’m wondering how I knew it. Because I had no idea about extermination, Katyń and what the system was doing to people. I learnt about these things later, yet subconsciously I knew, although I hadn’t heard of it before, that there had to be a punishment for this.

And I think that also for this reason this death seems so futile. This is us subconsciously accepting the dreadful side of the system.

...he dissolved in these folk Polish dances...

The extract comes from the documentary by Maciej Drygas ‘Hear My Cry’

Ryszard Siwiec was finally and adequately acknowledged and recognised by the state authorities. In 2001 Czech president Václav Havel decorated him posthumously with Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Order. It is also noteworthy that the memory of his act in the Czech Republic lives on. The Polish Institute in Prague greatly contributes to treasuring this memory. In 2008 on the initiative of the Polish Institute and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra a concert in his memory took place. In the same year the first monograph on Ryszard Siwiec written by Petr Blažek was published. In 2009 with the support of the then mayor of Prague Pavel Bem and the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes – Havelkova Street in a Prague district of Žižkov where the Polish Institute is situated was renamed Siwiecova Street. A year later a monument commemorating Ryszard Siwiec’s act funded by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites was unveiled in front of the Institute building (the copy of the monument is located in Warsaw).

Naming a street in a Prague district of Žižkov after Ryszard Siwiec, 13th February 2009

The collection of the Polish Institute in Prague

Unveiling the monument of Ryszard Siwiec, 20th June 2010

The collection of the Polish Institute in Prague

Unveiling the monument of Ryszard Siwiec, 20th June 2010

The collection of the Polish Institute in Prague

The concert of the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra “Music for Prague. In memoriam Ryszard Siwiec”, 8th September 2008

The collection of the Polish Institute in Prague

The concert of the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra “Music for Prague. In memoriam Ryszard Siwiec”, 8th September 2008

The collection of the Polish Institute in Prague

In 2003 Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski following the request of the Institute of National Remembrance decorated Ryszard Siwiec posthumously with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. His family did not collect the decoration until 2007 from President Lech Kaczyński. In 2006 Slovakian president Ivan Gašparovič decorated Siwiec with the Order of the White Double Cross.

The residents of Przemyśl have not forgotten Ryszard Siwiec either. One of the bridges was named after him and in 2008 a commemorative plaque was fixed into the wall of the tenement block where he used to live. A year later on his 100th birthday a commemorative plaque was funded in Dębica and fixed into the wall of the primary school he had attended.

Czech president Václav Havel gives Elżbieta Siwiec-Szabada the Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Order which her father was decorated with posthumously, 28th September 2001

The collection of the Siwiec family

The Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Order (the Czech Republic, 2001)

The collection of the Siwiec family

The Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Order (the Czech Republic, 2001)

The collection of the Siwiec family

The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2003, collected by his family in 2007)

The collection of the Siwiec family

St. Wenceslaus (2004)

The collection of the Siwiec family

St. Wenceslaus (2004)

The collection of the Siwiec family

The Order of the White Double Cross (Slovakia, 2006)

The collection of the Siwiec family

Ryszard Siwiec’s grave in Przemyśl

Fot. Petr Blažek

The plaque unveiled on 7th March 2009 in Dębica

Fot. Petr Blažek

About the project

The project “An ordinary man’s cry. Ryszard Siwiec 1909–1968” was developed in order to expand on a traditional exhibition called the same way. It consists of: a website which you are now visiting, e-books as well as a disc which contains the Polish website edition designed for educational institutions.

We hope that thanks to its electronic form Ryszard Siwiec’s story will reach a wider audience and he will not only be remembered by the Poles but also Czechs and other nations.

We would like to thank you for taking your time to familiarise yourselves with the subject. At the same time we would like to give our acknowledgements to all people and institutions without whom this project would have failed:

The Siwiec family

Maciej Drygas

Petr Blažek

Agnieszka Andrzejewska

The Polish Institute in Prague

The Sejm Library

The Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature

Educational Film Studio

The Centre for Citizenship Education

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Website kronikarp.pl

East News Agency

and all those who offered us their advice, help and valuable comments

Autorzy

Texts:

Jakub Izdebski, Marcin Krzanicki PhD

Cover and typesetting:

Marcin Krzanicki PhD

Project reviewers:

PhDr. Petr Blažek, Łukasz Kamiński PhD

Editing:

Małgorzata Strasz

Translation:

TurboTlumaczenia.pl