HEAR MY CRY

The 59-year-old accountant Ryszard Siwiec was the first person in Europe to set himself on fire in political protest, at an enormous thanksgiving bonfire on 8 September 1968. He was protesting against the socialist regime, the occupation of Czechoslovakia and the invasion of Polish troops into the neighbouring country. While Jan Palach would become a national hero through an identical act of self-immolation in Prague shortly thereafter, Siwiec’s sacrifice drew no attention at all. His protest was covered up and dismissed as the action of a “madman”. It was not until 1991’s HEAR MY CRY that his true motives became known. Maciej Drygas received the European Film Award for Best Documentary Film for this work.