The Tomb
The locals today regard Schimek's symbolic tomb as an object of pilgrimage. A nearby tablet reads "Born in 1925, executed in 1944, because he did not want to shoot the Poles. May God take you in his mercy". Many people visit the grave to lay flowers and light candles in his memory. Polish and Austrian flags can also be seen on it.
These visits became controversial in the late 1980s, when the anarcho-pacifist organization Wolnosc i Pokoj (WiP), on November 17, 1985, used the anniversary of Schimek's death to announce their "Declaration of Principles". WiP activists were stopped on their way to the cemetery. Communist militia in Tarnów detained fourteen of them for several hours. On May 4, 1986, a march to Schimek's grave to commemorate his birth resulted in the detention of fifty activists.
In 1993, Telewizja Polska (Polish Television) made a 40-minute documentary movie entitled Casus: Otto Schimek.
Read more about this topic: Otto Schimek
Famous quotes containing the word tomb:
“She hears, upon that water without sound,
A voice that cries, “The tomb in Palestine
Is not the porch of spirits lingering.
It is the grave of Jesus, where he lay.””
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 24:11.
Response to women who describe the empty tomb of Jesus.