‘It is a self-sacrifice in front of which one has to with humility and honor evacuate all the acts in life.’ said Jaroslava Čajová, member of organization Janua, responsible for the tenth gathering in memory of the death of Jan Palach who, as a protest against the political development after the invasion of the Soviet Army in Czechoslovakia, burnt himself on the January 16th 1969. His death became a symbol of a resistance against a totalitarian regime.
A 21 year-old student of the School of Philosophy of the Prague Charles University made his act of protest on one of the biggest public places in Prague, the Wenceslas square. He tried to awaken the society from the lethargy after the August occupation by the Soviet Army. As a result of burns he died in a hospital three days after. His funeral on the 25th of January became a big manifestation for freedom and democracy. In 1991 Jan Palach received in memoriam by the president Havel the highest state award – Commendation Ribbon of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk.
People reminded his death also in Všetaty, the village where he was born and lived. The ex-minister of culture, Štěpánek during his speech mentioned that the biggest reference of Palach’s death is a hope that it is possible to move a man’s conscience and that the Czech nation owns people that are willing to sacrifice their lives for freedom, human dignity and the truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment