An ordinary man’s cry. Ryszard Siwiec 1909–1968

Ryszard Siwiec was born on 7th March 1909 in Dębica. His family remembers him as an enlightened man, Catholic and a fervent patriot who cultivated national traditions. He loved literature - his book collection consisted of about 3,000 tomes. He also had an impressive collection of pipes. He was a sportsperson. He was excellent at skiing and swimming. Before the war he used to play hockey in the first team of ‘the Blacks’ in Lviv. For many years he typed leaflets on his own typewriter “Erica” and signed them with his pen name Jan Polak. His daughter Elżbieta who studied in Wrocław used to put them into letter boxes. Ryszard Siwiec never agreed with the political situation after Soviets entered Poland. He refused to accept the communist ideology and the totalitarian system, the symbol of which were the dramatic events on 8th September 1968.