This is an automatically translated description
The story of the Ukrainian dissident who set himself on fire in November 1968 on Khreshchatyk in Kyiv to protest against the colonisation of Ukraine by Russia and the invasion of Czechoslovakia is little known to the general public. The book is based on documentary materials, some of which are published for the first time, including a letter from Vasyl Makukh to the First Secretary of the CPSU, Petro Shelest, written the day before his death, outlining the motives for his radical act. Despite the fact that much remains unexplained and mysterious about this first act of self-immolation in Ukraine, Vasyl Makukh can rightfully become a symbol of the turbulent sixty-eight years in Eastern Europe. As opposed to the completely opposite Sixty-Eight that shook Western Europe, its events and protagonists are also covered quite extensively in the book, which allows the reader to form his or her own idea of that special period of European history. In fact, about two different Europe, whose history and stories unfold in parallel hypostases.
The authors of the book express their special gratitude to the director Oleksandr Riabokrys, the author of the documentary film Vasyl Makukh. The Torch» — for valuable professional advice; Mr Yurii Makukh— for providing unique documents and photographs from the family archive, thanks to which it became possible to recreate the life and feat of Vasyl Makukh as fully as possible.
