Jan Palach

Czech student who killed himself by self-immolation in protest (1948–1969)

AI overview

Jan Palach was a Czech student who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest his country's loss of freedom following the Soviet invasion. His act of self-sacrifice became a powerful symbol of resistance to communist oppression and remains significant in Czech history as an example of extreme political protest.

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Jan
Gender: male
Citizenship: Czechoslovakia
Place of birth: Všetaty
Occupation: university student
Languages spoken: Czech
Native language: Czech
Religion: Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren
Image: Jan Palach foto z průkazu.JPG

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place of burial: Všetaty
Commons category: Jan Palach
date of birth: 1948-08-11
date of death: 1969-01-19
manner of death: Suicide
date of burial or cremation: 1969-01-25
cause of death: self-immolation
name in native language: Jan Palach

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Encyclopedic overview

The memorial to Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc in front of the National Museum during the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution Jan Palach ( Czech pronunciation: [jan ˈpalax]; 11 August 1948 – 19 January 1969) was a Czech student of history and political economics at Charles University in Prague. His self-immolation in 1969 at the age of 20 was a political protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 which brought an end to the Prague Spring.

Early life

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Jan Palach” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Jan Palach

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