Czech martyr Jan Palach’s enduring legacy, 50 years after his self-immolation

Fifty years ago on January 16, a young Czech university student named Jan
Palach doused himself in petrol and set himself alight at the top of
Prague’s Wenceslas Square. Three days after staging this desperate
attempt to rouse a demoralised Czechoslovakia in the face of Soviet
occupation, he died in a burns clinic. Though his immediate political goals
failed, Jan Palach inspired and steeled the resolve of countless others to
fight for freedom during the two decades of ‘Normalisation’ that
followed the crushing of the Prague Spring.

Published: 
Tuesday, January 15, 2019