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Images XXV – 8 !"# !"#$" Human on %re as a gesture of self-o&ering in Polish documentary %lms ()*+(,- ./* !e Institute of Cultural Studies Jesuit University Ignatianum, Krakow A!"#$%&#. Tes Urszula, Human on %re as a gesture of self-o&ering in Polish documentary %lms “Images” vol. XXV, no. Poznań . Adam Mickiewicz University Press. Pp. –. ISSN -X. DOI ./i.... One of strongest acts of personal protest in the communist era was self-immolation, which was the subject of two Polish documentaries. Maciej Drygas in Hear My Cry invoked the +gure of Ryszard Siwiec, who immolated himself on September , as a sign of protest against the Soviet army invasion of Czechoslovakia. In his documentary, Drygas shows a fragment of the +lm with the burning man, juxtaposing it with the testimony of witnesses to the tragedy and the account of the family. .is documentary restores the memory of the whole society, who due solely to the +lm, learned about the radical gesture of a common man. Holy Fire by Jarosław Mańka and Maciej Grabysa in turn invokes the heroic but forgotten Walenty Badylak, who immolated himself in March of in Cracow as an expression of his objection to distortion of the truth about Katyń. Both acts of self-immolation had for many years been perceived as totally futile acts, while the directors show that the self-immolation of these now has a deep and symbolic meaning. In my analysis, I shall invoke historic and cultural contexts, conduct a multifaceted interpretation of self-immolation act and discuss the complex imagery included in the +lms. K'()*$+": self-immolation, documentary +lm, history of Poland In my article, I am going to outline the issue the act of self-immolation; subsequently, I shall of self-immolation as an extreme form of po- portray Ryszard Siwiec and refer to the "lm litical protest by embedding it in a broader his- Hear My Cry (Usłyszcie mój krzyk, &''&). Fi- torical and cultural context. Two stories shall nally, I shall evoke Walenty Badylak’s story and exemplify the problem: those of Ryszard Siwec a barely known documentary devoted to his and Walenty Badylak, who became heroes of act. Reminding the world of the remarkable documentary "lms. #e issue of self-immo- sacri"ce of these two men is the major objec- lation was thoroughly studied by American, tive of my article. #rough analysis of the "lms, and recently by Polish, researchers. A few I intend to show the power of documentaries signi"cant publications appeared about one as such. "lm (Hear My Cry), which shall be the subject Self-immolation, as an act of political pro- of my deep analysis; however, none of them test, is a speci"c kind of suicide, which can raise the topic against the historical and cul- be perceived in terms of the sacri"ce of an tural background. Holy Fire (Święty ogień, $%&&), individual in the name of higher values and a reportage, has not been written about so far, social ideals. It is altruistic suicide resulting and the "gure of Walenty Badylak still remains from an extremely strong relationship of an unknown, despite a strongly-developed histor- individual with the society, as Émile Durkheim ical policy in Poland. In the introduction, I am describes in his sociological study.[$] Rarely going to present general remarks concerning has self-immolation been treated as an act of self-destruction, but rather an honorable and [1] E. Durkheim, Samobójstwo, trans. K. Wakar, admirable act. However, it should be pointed Warszawa $%&&. out that suicide itself is burdened with lots of !"#$" !"% negative connotations which have undergone Army. His attitude towards communism, an transformations in the course of time and the attitude which began to prevail in Poland in development of culture. Nowadays, diverse &'78, was very critical. Siwiec did not accept the factors leading to suicide are taken into ac- post of a history teacher because he knew that count. As written by Polish researcher Robert it would involve indoctrination. Until his death, Kulmiński, self-immolation is a drama – the he remained an accountant. He had a wife most spectacular of all ways of taking one’s own and "ve children. According to his family and life. #e intention of protesters who chose this friends, he was profoundly moved by the politi- dire form of de"ance was to seek the biggest cal situation in Poland and the world and spent possible audience. In consequence, society was whole days listening to the Free Europe Ra- to become a community of viewers focused dio. #e events of March &'19, when students’ on one common object, namely the human protests were suppressed and an anti-Semitic on "re. Multiple acts of self-immolation were campaign initiated, he took as a personal defeat. carefully planned and even directed. #ose As a form of disagreement, he chose to edit an- committing suicide precisely selected the lo- ti-system lea:ets, signed “John Pole”, which he cation and stage where their drama would be distributed with his daughter’s help. However, held.[&] Michael Biggs, an American sociol- the most painful experience for him was the ogist, estimated that in the years &'12–$%%$, invasion of Warsaw Pact Army in Czechoslo- there occurred three thousand self-immola- vakia in August of &'19, which eventually led tions all over the world (including the ones to the dramatic decision of self-immolation. not ending in death).['] Unfortunately, among Despite Communist propaganda, Polish soci- the most spectacular acts of self-immolation, ety considered the participation of the Polish he did not mention two committed by Poles – army in the Czechoslovakian events a disgrace. Ryszard Siwiec and Walenty Badylak. In my Nonetheless, public acts against the invasion article, I shall invoke these two men, making were avoided for fear of repressions. Ryszard references to their biographies, Polish history Siwiec, in complete loneliness, chose an ex- and documentary "lms. I shall pay particu- treme form of opposition against totalitarian- lar attention to Ryszard Siwiec, who was the ism, communist crimes, aggression and human "rst person in the post-war history of Eastern rights violations in Poland and the neighboring Europe to commit the act of self-immolation Czechoslovakia. in the name of politically-motivated reason. Self-immolation is alien to European tra- #is act, relatively unknown in Poland and dition, which is why numerous researchers be- Europe, was saved from oblivion by a Polish lieve that Siwiec might have been inspired by documentary "lmmaker, Maciej Drygas, who Buddhist monks opposing the religious policy in &''& made a "lm called Hear My Cry. Before of Southern Vietnam. In &'12, #ich Quang discussing this documentary "lm, I would like Duc set himself on "re on a busy crossing in to present the protagonist’s pro"le. Saigon and soon the photograph documenting this event was seen by the entire world. Inter- Story of Ryszard Siwiec’s life estingly, the monk did not refer to his act as Ryszard Siwiec was born in &'%' in Dębica; suicide, but substitute sacri"ce, which should he spent his childhood in Lviv, where he grad- move hearts and lead to changes, which for uated from secondary school and got a degree in philosophy. In &'21, he moved to Przemyśl, [2] R. Kulmiński, Tu pali się ktoś, Kraków $%&;, where he worked in a tax o5ce; however, a6er p. 28. [3] M. Biggs, Dying Without Killing. Self-Immo- the outbreak of WWII, he resigned from his lations )*+,–-..-, <http://users.ox.ac.uk/~s- post, as he did not intend to work for the oc- fos%%1%/immolation.pdf> [accessed: January &%, cupiers. During the war, he served in the Home $%&']. !"( !"#$" Ryszard Siwiec could have been an important communist times, their ranks grew to a mas- argument.[)] What this modest man did was sive spectacle, in which folk groups sang and an act of overcoming human limitations – fear danced. It was an opportunity to present eco- of death, severe pain and "nally, the con- nomic success. One of the authors of the book demnation of church and society – which for Ryszard Siwiec. Pro Memoria wrote: “Death a practicing Catholic believer was undoubtedly of a lonely, full of determination man during a substantial dilemma. Ryszard Siwiec carefully a socialist celebration of harvest festival, death prepared all the details for many months ahead among falsi"ed symbols of Proto-Slavonic har- of his self-immolation; he wrote his last will, vest festivities became a real and tragic harvest and a few days before the incident, made ar- of the totalitarian state”.[*] rangements to enter the &%th Anniversary Sta- We shall never know why Siwiec did not dium in Warsaw. He also recorded his message begin his protest during the First Secretary’s and prepared anticommunist :yers. Moreover, speech, but only later, when a group of young he had his photograph taken, and on the way people in folk costumes appeared on the main to Warsaw, wrote a goodbye letter to his wife pitch and initiated the Polonez dance. When (it was intercepted by the security service, and he was on "re, he started shouting: “Long live his wife received it $% years later). Siwiec had free Poland” and “#is is the scream of a dying a precise scenario of his death; he even changed free man”; he did not allow anyone to put out the allocated sector at the stadium to be bet- the "re, and he wanted someone to open his ter visible from the main tribune, where party briefcase with the :yers. #e protest of Ryszard leadership, together with Władysław Gomułka, Siwiec was seen by hundreds of people, yet First Secretary of the Central Committee of the none of them undertook to uncover the truth Polish United Workers’ Party, and Józef Cyrank- or could understand the sense of this desper- iewicz, the Prime Minister were sitting.
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