Jan Palach

Jan Palach (August 11, 1948 - January 19, 1969) was a Czech student who committed suicide in political protest by self-immolation.

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The Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 was designed to crush the liberalising reforms of Alexander Dubček's government during the Prague Spring. Palach died after setting himself on fire in Wenceslas Square in Prague, Czechoslovakia on 16 January 1969 in protest.

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The funeral of Palach turned into a major protest against the occupation, and a month later (on 25 February 1969) another student, Jan Zaj?c, burned himself to death in the same place, and in April of the same year Evžen Plocek did the same in the city Jihlava. Apart of immediate shock these suicides didn't have lasting impact on political situation in Czechoslovakia.

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A couple of months earlier, on 8 September 1968, a Pole, Ryszard Siwiec had self-immolated himself in Warsaw during public events on the stadium in protest against Warsaw Pact aggression in Czechoslovakia and Polish participation in it. Siwiec died four days later, 12 September, in hospital. However, it is unlikely that Palach would have known about this act of protest, as it was completely concealed by the Polish communist authorities. The first news about it appeared in Radio Free Europe two months after Palach's death.

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After the fall of socialism Palach was commemorated in Prague by a bronze cross embedded at the spot where he fell outside the National Museum, as well as a square named in his honour. The Czech astronomer Luboš Kohoutek, who left Czechoslovakia the following year, named an asteroid which had been discovered on August 22, 1969, after Jan Palach (1834 Palach).

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Several later incidences of self-burning have or may have been influenced by the example and popularity of Palach in the media. In the spring of 2003, a total of six young Czechs burned themselves to death, notably the secondary school student Zdeněk Adamec who burned himself on 6 March 2003 on almost the same spot in front of the National Museum, leaving a suicide note on a webpage explicitly referring to Palach and the others who had committed suicide in 1969. Reason for such a wave of suicides is unclear and it didn't repeat later.

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August 11: August 11 is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 142 days remaining....

1948: 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar)....

January 19: January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 346 days remaining (347 in leap years)....

Jan Palach related Images and Photos (experimental)

Jan Sterling	Jan-Michael Vincent	"Skiing Woman " Jan/Feb 84	1984 Jan Sterling Edmond O'Brien 1956
Jan Van Riebeeck Lands in Table Bay Where He Founds Cape Town	The Martyrdom of Jan Hus	The Brady Bunch 'Real Jan Brady' T-Shirt - Yellow	The Brady Bunch 'Real Jan Brady' T-Shirt - Yellow
Boris Mark and Jan Hambourg Russian-Born Musicians	The Landing of Jan Van Riebeeck (1619-77) 6th April 1652 1850	Portrait of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 1624	Portrait of Jan Both Engraved by Johannes Meyssens