The Faculty of Philosophy invites you to the presentation of the book by Czech historian Petr Blazek, «Living Torches in the Soviet Bloc: Politically Motivated Self-Immolations in 1966–1989»

THE FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY INVITES you to the presentation of the book by Czech historian Petr Blazek, «Living Torches in the Soviet Bloc: Politically Motivated Self-Immolations in 1966–1989». The book was published in Ukrainian in 2025, translated by Radomyr Mokryk, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and History of Culture.

• The meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 10 at 3:00 p.m. in room 301 (main building of the I. Franko Lviv National University).

This book explores the most radical form of political protest in the «Soviet bloc» in the post-war period. There are dozens of cases of self-immolations in our region. The most famous are Vasyl Makukh, Oleksa Hirnyk and Jan Palach. In Ukraine, such protests were an attempt to draw attention to the issue of Russification and discrimination against Crimean Tatars, and in Czechoslovakia, to the problem of Soviet occupation.

Petr Blazek researched in detail the stories of people who committed self-immolation, delving into the personal and political context. Self-immolation, as an act on the verge of existential despair and at the same time civic courage, remains a subject of debate to this day. Is this form of protest effective? Is it appropriate and ethical from the point of view of Christian ethics? What drives people who choose this form of protest and is it politically justified? We invite you to seek answers to these questions at a meeting with the author of the book.

Petr Blazek (born 1973) studied history at the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague. He is the director of the Museum of Memory of the 20th Century. He works as a researcher at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. He studies the history of the Soviet bloc. He is the author of many historical studies, collections of documents, and exhibition projects. The book «Living Torches in the Soviet Bloc. Politically Motivated Self-Immolations 1966–1989» (2019) was also published in Romanian in 2023, and in English in 2025. A book in Polish is being prepared for publication. P. Blazek researched in detail the protests of Jan Palach and Ryszard Siwiec, participated in the preparation of documentary and feature films about these events, as well as in the creation of the Jan Palach Memorial in the town of Wsietaty.