On January 25, 1969 more than 750,000 people lined the
streets of Prague to pay their respects to 21-year old Jan Palach. Just days earlier, as a completely unknown
figure, Palach had staged a shocking one-man protest, setting himself on fire
in Prague’s Wenceslas Square. The
funeral procession had all the solemnity of a state occasion, but without the
pomp and ceremony. Most of those
watching the funeral procession watched in deep silence. The whole ceremony, from the display off
Palach’s closed coffin to the procession, was organized entirely by
students. Palach’s aim was to wake his fellow Czech citizens from a
complacency that had set over them in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of
Czechoslovakia that occurred in August 1968.
Palach envisioned his actions as a “wake-up call” to the nation.
The year before, Czechoslovakia had enjoyed a brief
period of liberalism, the Prague Spring.
It was an effort by Alexander Dubcek to give socialism a “human face”.
For a few months in 1968 there was a greater tolerance of political, religious
and social expression. This was done in
defiance of Moscow’s wishes. In August
1968, Soviet and Warsaw Pact tanks rolled into Prague and seized control. Dubcek was taken into custody, and the
Communists in Prague set about reversing his reforms. After the initial shock
of the invasion, the Communist clampdown was more gradual. Censorship was re-imposed, and non-Communists
lost their way of participating in civil society. To be able to teach in universities, one had
to be a Communist party member. People
expressed what they wished privately, but in public they had to adhere to the
party line. Many did not want to “rock
the boat”. It was this public acceptance
of the Communist regime that angered Jan Palach.
In a letter he wrote before his death, Palach said he
wanted to stir what he called as a “sleeping conscience of the nation.” In his letter, Palach referred to himself as “Torch
#1”, which implied there was part of a larger group willing to do just as he
did. But there was no “larger group”. But several others did follow Palach’s
example in Czechoslovakia and other countries behind the Iron Curtain. The pastor who would lead the services at
Palach’s gravesite met young Palach several times near the Prague church where
he preached. He said Palach came to him
three or four times, and Palach said to him that he was very sad about the
development of the public complacency in the aftermath of the Soviet
invasion. He thought Palach was “an
extraordinary young man”. It was on
January 15, 1969 that Palach staged his one-man protest in Wenceslas
Square. Dousing himself in gasoline, he
set fire to his clothes and ran through the streets before collapsing. Passers-by put out the flames and rushed him
to the hospital. Palach died of his injuries
four days later.
Hours after Palach’s death, tens of thousands of people
took part in a “remembrance march”. Some
carried signs with slogans such as “Abolish Censorship” and “Russians Go Home”. Over several days, people from all over
Czechoslovakia came to file past Palach’s coffin in the courtyard of Charles
University. Many senior ranking army
officers were among the mourners. The
funeral passed with no official response from the Communist regime. Police were nowhere to be found during the
funeral. Soon enough, anyone linked to
Palach would become a target. In the
1970s his grave would be destroyed after it became a national shrine, and his
family was regularly interrogated by the Czech secret police. Protests against
the regime continued for awhile but the people of Czechoslovakia seemed
resigned to Communist rule.
Czechs mourned Palach’s passing, but Palach’s act did
nothing to overturn the consolidation of power by Soviet-backed hardliners who
brought in a time of repression that lasted until the Velvet Revolution of
1989. On the 20th anniversary
of Palach’s death, thousands protested in the biggest anti-government protests in
twenty years. The protests continued
throughout 1989, culminating in November 1989.
On November 17th, there was a massive protest in Prague. Demonstrators marched and no longer feared
the police. It came twenty years after
his death, but the Czech people shook off their apathy.
