Ryszard Siwiec (; 7 March 1909 — 12 September 1968) 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
Warsaw Pact 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 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.