Forty years ago today, on 16th January 1969, in protest against the Soviet repression of free speech in Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring, a young student, Jan Palach, poured petrol over himself on the steps of the National Museum in Prague and lit the fire.
Palach took three days to die, during which time he begged other students not to follow his example, because of the extreme pain.
I was 13 at the time and it impressed me forcibly – it still does – that a man should give his life in such a way to publicise what was happening in his country, that the fight against the State machine could be so brutal, and yet so eloquent.
Palach took three days to die, during which time he begged other students not to follow his example, because of the extreme pain.
I was 13 at the time and it impressed me forcibly – it still does – that a man should give his life in such a way to publicise what was happening in his country, that the fight against the State machine could be so brutal, and yet so eloquent.
It was my political awakening and I don’t think he should be forgotten.
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