Eroi in fiamme

Between 1968, a year marked by the invasion of Prague, and the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991, some solitary heroes dared to challenge the “red giant” by resorting to the most extreme gesture: the immolation of themselves through fire. Among them was Vasyl’ Makuch, who killed himself in the center of Kyiv in 1968 – preceding the more famous Jan Palach – to protest both against the occupation of Czechoslovakia and the annihilation of the Ukrainian nation. His writings appear here for the first time ever, along with many other stories of martyrs of the 20th century.