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Pomnik Ryszarda Siwca w Pradze, 2010, aut. Marek Modera, photo 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Monument to Ryszard Siwiec
Pomnik Ryszarda Siwca w Pradze, 2010, aut. Marek Modera, photo 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Monument to Ryszard Siwiec
Pomnik Ryszarda Siwca w Pradze, 2010, aut. Marek Modera, photo 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Monument to Ryszard Siwiec
Pomnik Ryszarda Siwca w Pradze, 2010, aut. Marek Modera, photo 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Monument to Ryszard Siwiec
Pomnik Ryszarda Siwca w Pradze, 2010, aut. Marek Modera, photo 2023
Licencja: CC BY-SA 4.0, Źródło: Instytut Polonika, Warunki licencji
Fotografia przedstawiająca Monument to Ryszard Siwiec
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ID: POL-001847-P

Monument to Ryszard Siwiec

ID: POL-001847-P

Monument to Ryszard Siwiec

In Prague, in front of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, there is a monument commemorating Ryszard Siwiec. Two years later, an identical one was unveiled in Warsaw in front of the National Stadium. It is made of dark polished stone with a characteristic slit running from the top of the monument to about a third of its height where the inscription RYSZARD SIWIEC is in relief and painted red. Below this is an inscription with letters filled in with white paint:

RYSZARD SIWIEC / 1909-1968 / VOJÁK AK - POLSKÉ / ZEMSKÉ ARMÁDY / UPÁLIL SE NA PROTEST / PROTI VSTUPU VOJSK / VARŠAVSKÉ SMLOUVY / NA ÚZEMÍ / ČESKOSLOVENSKA. / VE JMÉNU PRAVDY / PŘINESL NEJVYŠŠÍ OBĚŤ //.

On the right and left is the translation of the inscription into Czech and English

On the left: RYSZARD SIWIEC / 1909-1968 / A FORMER SOLDIER / OF THE NATIONAL ARMY / IN RESPONSE / TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE WARSAW AGREEMENT / IN THE TERRITORY / OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA / HAS DONE SOMETHING. / IN THE NAME OF TRUTH / MADE THE SUPREME SACRIFICE //.

Right: RYSZARD SIWIEC / 1909-1968 / POLISH HOME ARMY/ SERVICEMAN / COMMITTED A SUICIDE / BY THE ACT OF SELF-IMMOLATION / TO PROTEST AGAINST / THE WARSAW PACT / TROOPS INVASION / OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA. / SACRIFICED HIS LIFE / IN THE NAME OF THE TRUTH //.

The memorial, funded by the Council for the Protection of Remembrance of Struggle and Martyrdom, was unveiled in Prague on 20 August 2010. It commemorates Ryszard Siwiec, a Pole who set himself on fire in Warsaw on 8 September 1968 to protest against the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops, including Polish soldiers in the Czech Republic.

Ryszard Siwiec came from Dębica, before World War II he was associated with Lviv and studied philosophy at the Jan Kazimierz University there. During the war, he belonged to the Home Army. After the war, he settled in Przemyśl and took up a job as an accountant; he was also involved in underground activity, copying leaflets. After the invasion of Czechoslovakia in Warsaw in September 1968, he doused himself in solvent at the 10th-Anniversary Stadium and, shouting - I protest, set himself on fire as a sign of protest. The Security Service succeeded to a large extent in influencing witnesses to the event to hide the truth about Siwiec's act. In the public domain, information on the subject was first reported by Radio Free Europe only in April 1969. Ryszard Siwiec's taped message, on the other hand, was first published in transcript form in 1981. In 1991, Maciej J. Drygas's film Hear My Cry was broadcast, which also featured seven seconds of footage of Ryszard Siwiec burning.

The author of the monument is the Polish sculptor Marek Moderau. The monument is located on the street named after Ryszard Siwiec in Prague.

Related persons:
Time of origin:
2010
Creator:
Marek Moderau (preview)
Keywords:
Author:
Bartłomiej Gutowski
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