Liviu Babes, a civic martyr

The date is March 2nd, 1989. A man who had set himself ablaze was skiing downhill along the Bradu ski slope in Poiana Brasov, and could be seen by hundreds of tourists. He fell near a tree, reeking with smoke and yelling. With a final effort, the man took out a piece of cardboard from his burning coat, reading "Stop Murder. Brasov= Auschwitz". It was an act of protest against the catastrophic condition of the Romanian society, fatefully masterminded by the communist regime. It was also a message of solidarity with the November 1987 workers' anti-communist strikes mounted at the Steagul Rosu and Tractorul plants in Brasov, brutally repressed by the communist regime.

Thirty years on, it is still hard to accept Liviu Babes's extreme gesture. It was a cry of desperation and helplessness as an answer to the lack of perspective regarding Romanians' day-to-day life back then. His sacrifice made Liviu Babes a civic martyr, much the same way other people were during the communist regime. At this point, worth mentioning are the names of other people from the former Soviet bloc countries who set themselves ablaze as a form of protest. Among them, the Czechs Jan Palach, Evžen Plocek and Jan Zajíc, the Polish Ryszard Siwiec, Lithuanian Romas Kalanta, the Ukrainian Oleksa Hirnyk, or the Hungarian Sandor Bauer.

Liviu Babes was born on September 10, 1942 and was an electrician supervisor with the Fabricated Parts Enterprise in Brasov. Babes was also an amateur painter. On the back of his last painting, Babes unassumingly wrote the German word "Ende", a couple of weeks ahead of his life's fated momentum. What really had a strong bearing on Babes was the degradation of Romania's political, economic, social, cultural and moral condition in the 1980s. The workers' strikes at the Steagul Rosu and Tractorul factories only strengthened his resolution to do something. But what actually influenced Babes the most in his decision was peoples' being so passive. According to his wife, Liviu Babes never stopped wondering about that.

Journalist and writer Mircea Brenciu is the author of "The Martyr", a volume dedicated to Liviu Babes. Brenciu wrote the book feeling it was his duty to do it, yet writing the book was equally an honor and a privilege for him. Mircea Brenciu referred to Babes as an intellectual, while his extreme gesture carried a strong civic message with it. Mircea Brenciu.

"Babes was an intellectual, and a very refined one too. He had exhibitions, he sold paintings, and at the time, he was kind of a trending fine artist in Brasov. As far as his attitude is concerned, his is a gesture of self-sacrifice, a gesture only an intellectual could do. Babes is part of the Romanian elite that could no longer stand the communist atrocities. However, he was closely linked to the people, since through his profession, he was just a supervisor with a fabricated parts enterprise, working with ordinary people. He actually provided the connection between the two social categories. His gesture is one of great cultural value and he made it after careful consideration. He premeditated his act with great lucidity and the message he conveys as he skis downhill setting himself ablaze is indicative of a certain cultural level. The cardboard he displayed on the slope and on which you could read "Stop Murder. Braşov = Auschwitz" is not the work of an ordinary man".

In 1968, the Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire, in protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which suppressed the "Prague Spring". Mircea Brenciu spoke about the difference between the two gestures.

"In terms of accomplishment and level of premeditation, what Babes did was superior to Jan Palach's gesture. What Babes did was heroic, it was like an ancient tragedy. Jan Palach's gesture was an auto-da-fe (an act of faith) at a time of psychological burst, of losing control. Babes did it with due consideration. Before setting himself on fire in Poiana Brasov, he met with friends, was quite merry and told them how life was starting right then. He understood that under those conditions of strict supervision by the political police, the Securitate, he could not have done something so dramatic if he had told anybody. He knew there were snitches everywhere and he had to be careful in order not to raise any suspicion. Palach's self-immolation came in the presence of hundreds and thousands of Czechs protesting against the invasion, while Babes did it by himself, just him against the terrible Ceausescu dictatorship."

One of the difficulties encountered while writing the book "The Martyr", Mircea Brenciu told us, was to find sources and documents:

"From the moment he set himself on fire and was taken by an ambulance, nobody learnt anything about him. What is strange is that he died quite fast for someone who got burnt. People with third degree burns do not die on that very day, they make it for a few days, and then their kidneys fail. Babes died on the very same day, and when he was sent home to be buried, his family was not allowed to lift the lid of the casket. Exhumation might help, but I doubt something significant would be found. It's only speculation."

Babes was buried in an isolated corner of the Brasov County Cemetery, under strict supervision by the political police. 12 hours after the event, the 'Free Europe' radio station broadcast the news, and this is how the free world found out about Liviu Babes, the civic martyr who died 30 years ago.