{"id":19392,"date":"2021-07-16T14:05:25","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T21:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=19392"},"modified":"2021-07-16T14:11:45","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T21:11:45","slug":"bio-jan-palach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/07\/16\/bio-jan-palach\/","title":{"rendered":"Bio: Jan Palach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jan Palach<\/th><\/tr>
<\/a>Palach’s student ID photo<\/td><\/tr>
Born<\/th>11 August 1948
Prague<\/a>, Czechoslovakia<\/a> (now Czech Republic<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
Died<\/th>19 January 1969 (aged 20)
Prague<\/a>, Czechoslovakia<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Cause of death<\/th>Burns<\/a> from self-immolation<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Resting place<\/th>Ol\u0161any Cemetery<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Nationality<\/th>Czech<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Alma mater<\/th>Charles University<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Occupation<\/th>student<\/td><\/tr>
Known for<\/th>self-immolation<\/a> after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Awards<\/th>Order of Tom\u00e1\u0161 Garrigue Masaryk<\/a> (in memoriam<\/em>)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Jan Palach<\/strong> (11 August 1948 \u2013 19 January 1969; Czech pronunciation: [jan \u02c8palax]<\/a>) was a Czech student of history and political economy at Charles University in Prague<\/a>. His self-immolation<\/a> was a political protest<\/a> against the end of the Prague Spring<\/a> resulting from the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia<\/a> by the Warsaw Pact<\/a> armies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In August 1968, the Soviet Union<\/a> invaded<\/a> Czechoslovakia<\/a> to crush the liberalising<\/a> reforms of Alexander Dub\u010dek<\/a>‘s government during what was known as the Prague Spring<\/a>. Prague<\/a>-born Palach decided to sacrifice himself in protest of the invasion and set himself on fire, in Wenceslas Square<\/a>, on 16 January 1969. According to a letter he sent to several public figures, an entire clandestine resistance organization had been established with the purpose of practising self-immolation until their demands were met; however, it seems that such a group never existed.[1]<\/a><\/sup> The demands declared in the letter were the abolition of censorship and a halt to the distribution of Zpr\u00e1vy<\/em>, the official newspaper of the Soviet occupying forces. In addition, the letter called for the Czech and the Slovak peoples to go on a general strike<\/a> in support of these demands.[2]<\/a><\/sup> An earlier draft of the letter that Palach wrote also called for the resignation of a number of pro-Soviet politicians,[3]<\/a><\/sup> but that demand did not make it into the final version, which included the remark that “our demands are not extreme, on the contrary”. Palach died from his burns several days after his act, at the hospital. On his deathbed, he was visited by a female acquaintance from his college and by a student leader, to whom he had addressed one of the copies of his letter. It was reported that he had pleaded for others not to do what he had done but instead to continue the struggle by other means, although it has been doubted whether he really said that.[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Palach’s funeral (a small group of grievers photographed by Milo\u0148 Novotn\u00fd) turned into a major protest against the occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Jaroslava Moserov\u00e1<\/a>, a burns specialist who was the first to provide care to Palach at the Charles University Faculty Hospital, Palach did not set himself on fire to protest against the Soviet occupation, but did so to protest against the “demoralization” of Czechoslovak citizens caused by the occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not so much in opposition to the Soviet occupation, but the demoralization which was setting in, that people were not only giving up, but giving in. And he wanted to stop that demoralization. I think the people in the street, the multitude of people in the street, silent, with sad eyes, serious faces, which when you looked at those people you understood that everyone understands, that all the decent people were on the verge of making compromises.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The funeral of Palach turned into a major protest against the occupation. A month later (on 25 February), another student, Jan Zaj\u00edc<\/a>, burned himself to death in the same place. This was followed in April of the same year by Ev\u017een Plocek<\/a> in Jihlava<\/a>, and by others. People in other Warsaw Pact countries also emulated his example, such as the Hungarian S\u00e1ndor Bauer<\/a> on 20 January 1969 and another Hungarian, M\u00e1rton Moyses<\/a> on 13 February 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palach’s self-immolation was the second act of that kind after that of the Pole Ryszard Siwiec<\/a>, which was successfully suppressed by the authorities and was mostly forgotten until the fall of communism<\/a>. Palach was not known to be aware of Siwiec’s protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posthumous recognition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The memorial to Jan Palach and Jan Zaj\u00edc<\/a> in front of the National Museum<\/a> on Wenceslas Square<\/a> by the Czech artist Barbora Vesel\u00e1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palach was initially interred in Ol\u0161any Cemetery<\/a>. As his gravesite was growing into a national shrine, the Czechoslovak secret police (StB<\/a>) set out to destroy any memory of Palach’s deed and exhumed his remains on the night of 25 October 1973. His body was then cremated and sent to his mother in Palach’s native town of V\u0161etaty<\/a> while an anonymous old woman from a rest home was laid in the grave.[6]<\/a><\/sup> Palach’s mother was not allowed to deposit the urn in the local cemetery until 1974. On 25 October 1990 the urn was officially returned to its initial site in Prague.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 20th anniversary of Palach’s death, protests ostensibly in memory of Palach (but intended as criticism of the regime) escalated into what would be called “Palach Week”. The series of anticommunist demonstrations in Prague between 15 and 21 January 1989 were suppressed by the police, who beat demonstrators and used water cannons, often catching passers-by in the fray. Palach Week is considered one of the catalyst demonstrations which preceded the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia 10 months later.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Velvet Revolution<\/a>, Palach (along with Zaj\u00edc) was commemorated in Prague by a bronze cross embedded at the spot where he fell outside the National Museum<\/a>, as well as a square<\/a> named in his honour. The Czech astronomer Lubo\u0161 Kohoutek<\/a>, who left Czechoslovakia the following year, named an asteroid<\/a> which had been discovered on 22 August 1969, after Jan Palach (1834 Palach<\/a>). There are several other memorials to Palach in cities throughout Europe, including a small memorial inside the glacier tunnels beneath the Jungfraujoch<\/a> in Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several later incidents of self-immolation may have been influenced<\/a> by the example of Palach and his media popularity. In the spring of 2003, a total of six young Czechs burned themselves to death,[7]<\/a><\/sup> notably Zden\u011bk Adamec<\/a>, a 19-year-old student from Humpolec<\/a> who burned himself on 6 March 2003 on almost the same spot in front of the National Museum where Palach burnt himself, leaving a suicide note explicitly referring to Palach and the others who killed themselves in the 1969 Prague Spring<\/a>.[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just walking distance from the site of Palach’s self-immolation, a statuary in Prague’s Old Town Square<\/a> honours iconic Bohemian religious thinker Jan Hus<\/a>, who was burned at the stake for his beliefs in 1415. Himself celebrated as a national hero for many centuries, some commentary has linked Palach’s self-immolation to the execution of Hus.[9]<\/a><\/sup>[10]<\/a><\/sup>[11]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultural references<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The memorial to Jan Palach and Jan Zaj\u00edc in front of the National Museum during the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The music video for the song “Club Foot<\/a>” by the band Kasabian<\/a> is dedicated to Palach. The composition “The Funeral of Jan Palach” performed by The Zippo Band and composed by Phil Kline<\/a> is a tribute. He is mentioned in The Stranglers<\/a>‘ bassist, Jean-Jacques Burnel<\/a>‘s 1979 solo album, Euroman Cometh<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1969, the Slovenian<\/a> poet Edvard Kocbek<\/a> published a poem entitled “Rocket”, in which he juxtaposed two events from that year: the Apollo 11<\/a> landing, “a senseless act of technological nihilism”, and “a rocket named Palach that launched itself into history, its smoky message was seen even through the darkest glasses”.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seeking political asylum in the United States, Polish artist Wiktor Szostalo<\/a> commemorated Jan Palach in his “Performance for Freedom”<\/em> proclaiming “I am Jan Palach. I’m a Czech, I’m a Pole, a Lithuanian<\/a>, a Vietnamese<\/a>, an Afghani<\/a>, a betrayed You. After I’ve burnt myself a thousand times, perhaps we’ll win”<\/em>.[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, a statue sculpted by Andr\u00e1s Beck<\/a> as a tribute to the student was transported from France to the Czech Republic. The statue was installed in M\u011bln\u00edk<\/a>, the city where Jan Palach did his studies.[13]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian songwriter Francesco Guccini<\/a> wrote a song “La Primavera di Praga” in dedication to Jan Palach, compared to religious scholar Jan Hus<\/a>: “Once again Jan Hus is burning alive”. Polish singer Jacek Kaczmarski<\/a> wrote a song about Palach’s suicide, called “Pochodnie” (“Torches”). The Italian far-right Folk group, “La Compagnia dell’Anello” released a song dedicated to him, titled Jan Palach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Pakistani poet Qazi Zafar Iqbal paid tribute to Jan Palach in the form of a Poem in Urdu. The poem is included in his book named “Ghurfa-e-Shab (The Window of Night)” published in 2006 in the city of Lahore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Luxembourg-based Welsh composer Dafydd Bullock was commissioned to write “Requiem for Jan Palach” (op 182) to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Palach’s suicide. It includes a setting of words which appeared briefly on a statue in Wenceslas Square after the event, before being erased by the authorities: “Do not be indifferent to the day when the light of the future was carried forward by a burning body”.[14]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their 1983 song “Nuuj Helde” the Janse Bagge Bend (from the Netherlands) asks whether people know why Jan Palach burned. This song was meant to make the general public aware of heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palach featured in a monologue radio play entitled “Torch No 1” on BBC Radio 4<\/a>, directed by Martin Jenkins, and written by David Pownall<\/a>. Palach was played by Karl Davies.[15]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

French documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon<\/a> directed a 1969 film about Jan Palach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwegian songwriter Hans Rotmo<\/a> mentioned Palach’s name among other notable political activists such as Victor Jara<\/a> and Steve Biko<\/a> in his 1989 song “Lennon Street”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwegian songwriter and singer \u00c5ge Aleksandersen<\/a> mentioned Palach’s name in his 1984 song “Va det du Jesus”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan Palach is named without context in the 2005 novel by Salman Rushdie<\/a>, Shalimar the Clown<\/a>, referring to the 1992 L.A. Riots<\/a>.[16]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sequence of poems exploring the implications of Palach’s death called One Match<\/em> by the poet Sheila Hamilton were published in issue 51 of the Dorset-based poetry serial, Tears in the Fence<\/em> (ed. David Caddy) in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A three-part 2013 Czech-Polish television show “Burning Bush<\/a>“, directed by Agnieszka Holland<\/a>, is situated around the events that happened after Jan Palach’s self-immolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Metal band Lamb of God<\/a> wrote a song on their studio album VII: Sturm und Drang<\/a>, entitled “Torches”<\/em>, that was inspired by Palach’s actions.[17]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan Palach is named in kontext in the 1992 poem by Axel Reitel, \u00dast\u00ed nad Labem, in: das exil und der sandberg. Gedichte 1976\u20131990. Boesche-Verlag Berlin und Haifa, referring a school-holiday near Lake M\u00e1cha and entertained about this self-immolation against dictatorship. Also include in the collection “Herzflur”, Glossen. German Literature after 1945<ref>http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/glossen\/archive\/glossen-41-august-2016\/<\/a><ref><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2018 film “Jan Palach<\/a>“, directed by Robert Sedl\u00e1\u010dek chronicles Palach’s life before his self-immolation. Palach is played by\u00a0Viktor Zavadil<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More at: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jan_Palach<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jan Palach Palach’s student ID photo Born 11 August 1948Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) Died 19 January 1969 (aged 20)Prague, Czechoslovakia Cause of death Burns from self-immolation Resting place Ol\u0161any Cemetery Nationality Czech Alma mater Charles University Occupation student Known for self-immolation after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia Awards Order of Tom\u00e1\u0161 Garrigue Masaryk (in memoriam) Jan Palach (11 August… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19396,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19392\/revisions\/19396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}