Thích Quảng Đức

Thich Quảng Đức (* 1897, † June 11, 1963 in Saigon) was a Vietnamese monk who lit himself on June 11, 1963 in Saigon itself, in order to protest against the oppression of the majority Buddhist population in Vietnam. During persisted for weeks at this time Buddhist crisis, the government of President Ngo Dinh Diem had reflected their demonstrations and arrest participants. The journalist present David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Times, described it as completely taken:

"I was to see did sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body slowly withering and shriveling up what, his head blackening and charring. In the air what the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me i could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think .... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him. "

"I should get this sight again to face, but once was enough. Flames shot out of one man up; withered and shrank his body slowly, his head blackened and charred. The smell of burning human flesh permeated the air; People burn amazingly fast. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who now came together. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to me to take notes or ask questions, even dismayed to think at all ... As he burned, he did not move a single muscle, was not by sound at all and thus representing its visual composure a sharp contrast to the wailing people around him. "

The Monastery Thich Quang Đứcs was located on the outskirts of Hue in central Vietnam. The sky-blue Austin in which to burn himself, he went to Saigon, where it can be still visited (along with the photo that shows his self-immolation and see in the background the car is ).

An image taken by photographer Malcolm W. Browne image of self-immolation was elected Press Photo of the Year 1963. Later, the American band Rage Against the Machine used the image for the cover of their first album Rage Against the Machine and the first single Killing in the Name.