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From the ArchivesThe last days of Jan Palach
On the evening of January 16 1969, Czechoslovak Radio broadcast a
disturbing item of news: “Today at around 3 pm, 21-year-old J.P., a
student at the Philosophical Faculty suffered serious burns on Wenceslas
Square. He poured an as yet unknown flammable liquid over himself and set
his clothes alight resulting in severe burns.” More
Czech HistoryNew website presents the life and sacrifice of Jan Palach
It was one of the most remarkable single acts in Czechoslovak history, one
that still today evokes mingled shock and admiration. Now the documents,
reports, essays and films relating to the self-immolation of Jan Palach -
five months after the invasion of his country by Warsaw Pact forces – is
available to the public through a new website launched to commemorate the
life and sacrifice of the young activist. More
Current AffairsMonument unveiled to Polish 'human torch' protestor against Soviet invasion
A monument was unveiled in Prague on Friday morning to Ryszard Siwiec, the
Polish man who set himself alight in September 1968 in protest at his
country’s participation in the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Siwiec committed suicide in Warsaw just weeks after the invasion and six
months before the Czech student Jan Palach made his own terrible sacrifice
in Prague. The monument was unveiled on the eve of the 42nd anniversary of
the invasion.
More
From the ArchivesThe last days of Jan Palach
On the evening of January 16 1969, Czechoslovak Radio broadcast a
disturbing item of news: “Today at around 3 pm, 21-year-old J.P., a
student at the Philosophical Faculty suffered serious burns on Wenceslas
Square. He poured an as yet unknown flammable liquid over himself and set
his clothes alight resulting in severe burns.”
More
Czechs in HistoryJan Palach – the student whose self-immolation still haunts Czechs today
In this edition of Czechs in History, we take a look at the controversial
legacy of Jan Palach. This young Czech history student shocked the world
by setting himself on fire in the centre of Prague in protest at the
Soviet-led invasion of communist Czechoslovakia in 1968, which crushed the
democratic reform movement known as the “Prague Spring”. More
Current AffairsCzechs commemorate 40th anniversary of death of Jan Palach
Friday marks the 40th anniversary of the self-immolation of Jan Palach, a
20-year old student from Prague’s Charles University. At the top of the
city’s Wenceslas Square Palach doused himself in petrol and set himself
alight, in a desperate attempt to rouse Czechs from what he saw as their
increasing apathy in the wake of the Soviet-led invasion of the previous
summer. He died three days later on January 19 1969, with his huge funeral
becoming at a protest against the occupation. Tomáš Halík,
a Roman Catholic priest and head of the Czech Christian Academy, was a
student at the time; he told me how this event affected his own life: More
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