“He was a level-headed, calm man. Always. He had never performed any impetuous gestures in his life, so the shock was all the greater. But the phone call from my brother was clear, so I had to reconcile myself to it,” said the brother of Piotr Szczęsny, who immolated himself in front of the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw in October. Family and friends recall that he worried about the situation in Poland, but he was never vehement. He had planned his act for a long time.