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Jan Palach
To die in the name of truth and freedom is the ultimate sacrifice a man can make in his life. It
is even more poignant if the decision is made by a young person, with the whole life ahead of him.
Throughout history, there was hardly any time when Czechs didn`t have to fight for their freedom.
And throughout history, there were always those who didn`t hesitate to sacrifice their lives in order
to encourage and unite the intimidated and resigned nation. Although their death didn`t always solve
the problem there and then, they became the nation`s living conscience and inspired a great many not
to give in to oppression, violence and lies, but stand up against them. For Czechs, three names will
always symbolise truth, freedom and democracy...three names used to uplift the crushed spirits in
times of oppression, and the very names used to trouble the authorities whose power was based on
force rather than democracy. These three men, who stretch their hands to reach one another across
five centuries, are the Catholic church reformer Jan Hus, and the students Jan Opletal and Jan
Palach. The first of them died a long time ago, in the early 15th century, the second one in the early
months of the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and the last one shortly after the
Soviet tanks quashed the 1968 Prague spring.
This week, Czechs mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, a student of Prague`s
Charles University, who burnt himself to death on January 16, 1969, in protest against the Soviet
invasion and the cowardice of the communist authorities and the government, who legalised the
invasion with all its implications. Palach`s death shocked the nation and although it was already too
late to change anything, it once again raised people`s anger against the betrayal by the authorities and
made many realise the indestructible value of truth and freedom. When dying of his burns in hospital,
Palach pleaded with the people by his side to make sure the world knew that his act wasn`t a suicide
but protest. He set himself on fire like it`s done in the Buddhist tradition, and became a human torch,
both literally and spiritually. His act shook the demoralised nation like nothing else. For the following
twenty years, it served as a constant reminder to those defending the truth, and a permanent reproach
to the authorities, who tried to root out every memory of Palach`s death.
As we said earlier, Palach wasn`t the first man in Czech history to give up his life in the name
of truth. The name of Jan Hus is known to every Czech child, and there is a distinct parallel between
him and Palach. Jan Hus was burnt at the stake as a heretic, in 1415. He was given the chance to
revoke his preaching, based on the equality of all men in the face of God, which would have saved
his life. But he decided to choose death, knowing it would do more for the cause than if he stayed
alive. The figure of Jan Hus didn`t bother too much the communist authorities. They thought they
could easily place his death in the religious context of the 15th century and not beyond, and so Hus
was allowed to stay in Czech history textbooks, while all traces of Palach had to be removed. Hus`
martyr`s death even suited the anti-religious communist propaganda, as it could claim that Hus
protested against the rottenness of the Catholic church, or any church, for that matter. But they
couldn`t do the same with Palach, whose sacrifice has no parallel in European history.
The third young man to become the symbol of truth and freedom for Czechs, was also a
student at Charles` University. His name was Jan Opletal. He didn`t consciously choose to die, like
Hus or Palach, but was shot during a student demonstration against the Nazi occupation. His funeral
on the 15th of November 1939, like that of Palach`s thirty years later, was attended by tens of
thousands of people and ended in a massive demonstration. Two days later, the Nazis closed all
Czech universities, executed the leading representatives of the student movement and sent others to
the concentration camps. The events shocked Europe, which wasn`t yet at war at that time, and the
17th of November was proclaimed the International Students` Day. Again, the 17th of November as
such didn`t trouble the post-1968 communist authorities, as they could place it in the context of the
anti Nazi resistance. But when students decided to celebrate the day differently from the toothless
ceremony prescribed by the authorities, Opletal, too, became a bit of a nuisance
It was clear that the celebrations of the International Student`s day in November 1989, which
was also the 50th anniversary of Opletal`s death, would bring something unexpected. That`s why the
authorities tried, in the last moment, to cancel the demonstration, although they used to encourage it
in the previous years. They had been aware of the threatening explosion since January that year,
which was the 20th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach. On the 16th of January, the day when he
set himself on fire, the whole of Venceslas square was practically closed off and patrolled by the
police, to prevent people from paying their respects to Palach`s memory...it`s difficult to picture the
situation now...
What`s little known, is that two other men decided to become live torches after Jan Palach. One was
the eighteen year old Jan Zajic, also a student, who held a hunger strike on Venceslas square to
support Palach`s demands. When they were not met by the authorities, Zajic followed Palach`s
example and became - as he put it in his farewell letter - the `Torch number two`. He set himself on
fire on Venceslas square on February 25, 1969 - the anniversary of the 1948 communist coup. In the
message he left behind, he asked people to protest against the communist dictate.
Still less remembered is the forty-year old Evzen Plocek, who became the `Torch number
three`. Plocek burnt himself in the main square of the town of Jihlava, on April 4, 1969. Between
January and April 1969, 26 people set themselves on fire; seven of them died. It wasn`t always easy
to establish whether their motives were as clear and their aims as noble as those of Palach, Zajic and
Plocek, or whether they were tinged with personal problems. But the memory of those who decided
to put their death in the service of truth, guided many Czechs through the hopeless decades of the
communist dictatorship. Their selfless act shaped the Czech conscience during the twenty year
period between 1969 and 1989, and changed it forever. Without them, there would almost certainly
be no velvet revolution, and the events would have taken a completely different course. Let`s make
sure we are always worthy of this great sacrifice.
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