Living Torches in the Soviet Bloc: Politically Motivated Cases of Self-Immolation in 1966-1989

Explores cases of self-immolation as political protest against Communist occupation in the Soviet Bloc.

Living Torches in the Soviet Bloc presents the lives of those who chose self-immolation as a radical form of protest against the political oppression of Communist regimes in the Soviet Bloc between 1966-1989. While more than fifty such cases were identified during the relevant period, Petr Blazek focuses here on the twenty-one cases in which at least partial political motivation is apparent from historical sources.

Many of the cases of the ＂living torches＂ were a radical response to the August 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia by the armies of five Warsaw Pact member states and the suppression of the Prague Spring. After January 1969, the self-immolation of Jan Palach evoked a large wave of followers not only in Czechoslovakia, but also abroad, and greatly influenced other cases of ＂living torches＂ which continued to appear in the Soviet Bloc until the end of the 1980s.

Although the conditions in the Soviet Bloc states were sometimes fundamentally different, these cases of self-immolation across states share a common disapproval of the totalitarian form of rule. They were often drastic responses from members of occupied nations, most of whom were Czechs, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and Poles, who rejected the enforced Communist regime and Soviet military presence. Some decided to sacrifice their lives to wake others from indifference and resignation. Even several decades later, their shocking acts not only provoke, but also lead us to reflect on fundamental questions of human life.

Petr Blazek is a Czech historian who works as a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. Since 2023 he has been the director of the Twentieth Century Memorial Museum. He is the main author of texts on Jan Palach’s website and the historical exhibition of the Jan Palach Memorial in Vsetaty. He was also a consultant for feature and documentary films such as The Burning Bush and The Message of Jan Palach.