#Jan Palach
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Josef Koudelka made surreptitious photos of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, which were smuggled out of the country. This image from January 1969 is of a public mourning of the death of Jan Palach, a 21-year-old student who set himself on fire in the center of Prague. It is crushing af to see this now in the wake of Aaron Bushnell's own self-immolation, in my country, not far from my house.
image: josef koudelka/magnum via newyorker.com
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pardon
#kontext je:#usla jsem ve vlaku a najednou jsem se propocená probudila s touhle myšlenkou v hlavě#takže asi tak#on to taky už možná někdo vymyslel#co já vím#nic#česky#czech#obrozujeme#jan palach#čest jeho památce#já se fakt omlouvám hdsbjhbjhbd
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There's very few films I think of often, just because of their baffling choices.
The most important of these is Jan Palach, a movie which heavily, inexplicably mislead a Chekhov's gun.
I think about it at least once a month, and the fact I'm not sure it's intentional is driving me *fucking insane*
How do you compose a film about a person lighting themselves on fire in protest, and show a *very personally significant lighter* in the movie, in very emotionally charged moments, *three times*.
And then.
Have the dude.
Light himself on fire.
With matches.
With no further showing of the lighter.
And now, don't get me wrong, I get the compact message, of the nihilism of the whole movie. None of it mattered. The buildup, the atmosphere, the hope, all of it was in vain.
The misused lighter seems to, kind of, be part of that entire structure.
Which is great, as a concept.
Do that. Please. I love that.
But.
It doesn't fully click, in the movie.
Please. Connect your "nihilistic twist of faith" to the lighter, especially since you went into the effort of Chekhov's gunning it.
The lighter needs to fire.
You fools. Give me a shot of the professor, looking at it, terrified, lighting it, to light a cigarette, melancolically, or something, movie end.
Please.
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"Wer in einer DIKTATUR Suizid begeht, ist nicht depressiv. Er hat bei klarem Verstand beschlossen nicht mehr weiter in Unfreiheit, Unmündigkeit, Mundtot dahin zu vegetieren…"
(Psychologische Betrachtungen)
#Suizid#meinungsfreiheit#doppelte moral#aphorismus#diktatur#zensur#Polizeistaat#walter benjamin#Stefan Zweig#verfolgung#Diktatur#klaus mann#Jan Palach
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Republican response to mass shootings, you know, the whole “don’t make it political”, always gives me such extreme Ján Palach flashbacks. Like, for people who treat the very word “socialism” like it’s Voldemort’s name, they sure do like acting like KSČ at its prime.
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Video
youtube
British Pathé - Jan Palach Funeral (1969)
https://www.britishpathe.tv
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16 janvier : il y a 55 ans un étudiant tchèque s'immolait par le feu
Le 16 janvier 1969, Jan Palach, un étudiant en philosophie de 20 ans s’immolait par le feu, place Venceslas à Prague. Cet acte de désespoir, quelques mois après l’écrasement du printemps de Prague, n’a pas eu d’effet politique immédiat. Mais 20 ans plus tard, jour pour jour, le 16 janvier 1989, une manifestation à sa mémoire était le premier déclic de la protestation contre le régime communiste, lequel allait tomber quelques mois plus tard à la faveur de la révolution de Velours.
L’immolation de Mohammed Bouazizi, en Tunisie, en décembre 2010 avait entrainé une chute plus rapide de la dictature quelques semaines à peine. Bouazizi ne connaissait probablement pas Jan Palach, en revanche on sait que ce dernier avait eu vent du geste de Thich Quang Duc, un moine bouddhiste qui s’était suicidé par le feu à Saigon, en 1963.
Déjà, en septembre 1968, Ryszard Siwiec s’était immolé à Varsovie pour protester contre la participation des unités militaires polonaises à l’occupation de la Tchécoslovaquie. Même si Jan Palach est le seul de son groupe d’étudiants à être passé à l’acte, d’autres tchécoslovaques l’imiteront comme Jan Zajíc, lycéen de Moravie du Nord, et Evžen Plocek, dirigeant syndical de la région de Vysočina.
Un mémorial est dédié à Jan Palach sur la place Venceslas à Prague. C'est le lieu d'une commémoration chaque 16 janvier. Des rassemblements se déroulent un peu partout dans le pays, et en particulier sur le lieu hautement symbolique qu’est le parvis de la Faculté de philosophie de l’Université Charles à Prague, où Jan Palach était étudiant. Une cérémonie est aussi organisée à Vsetaty, sa ville natale.
La maison familiale de Jan Palach, située à Všetaty près de la ville de Mělník en Bohême centrale, a été transformée en musée et centre éducatif, ouvrant symboliquement ses portes le 21 août 2018, soit 50 ans après le début de l’occupation de la Tchécoslovaquie par les troupes du pacte de Varsovie.
Les autorités communistes avaient accepté qu’il soit inhumé au cimetière d’Olšany, dans le quartier de Vinohrady, à Prague. La tombe devient très vite un lieu de pèlerinage. Les gens y laissaient non seulement des bougies, mais aussi des messages ou des bouquets de fleurs… Les autorités ont fait cesser cela en exhumant le corps, en incinérant et en envoyant ses cendres pour les inhumer à Všetaty. Le 25 octobre 1990, soit près d’un an après la révolution de Velours, l’urne sera officiellement rapportée au cimetière d’Olšany, en présence de l’ancien dissident devenu président, Václav Havel.
Un article de l'Almanach international des éditions BiblioMonde, 15 janvier 2024
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why yes i can pull niche minor historical figures out of my mental file on a whim
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Czech Republic mourns victims of Prague university mass shooting
By Oliver Slow, BBC News
People gathered for Mass at St Vitus Cathedral in Prague to remember those killed
The Czech Republic observed a minute's silence at midday (11:00 GMT) to commemorate those killed in Thursday's mass shooting at a Prague university.
Flags on official buildings were flown at half-mast to mark a day of national mourning.
Fourteen people were shot dead at the Faculty of Arts building of Charles University in the capital by a student who then killed himself.
Police are working to uncover the motive behind the attack.
It is one of the deadliest assaults by a lone gunman in Europe this century.
Those killed in Thursday's attack included Lenka Hlavkova, head of the Institute of Musicology at the university.
Other victims were named as translator and Finnish literature expert Jan Dlask and student Lucie Spindlerova.
The shooting began at around 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT) at the Faculty of Arts building off Jan Palach Square in the centre of the Czech capital.
The gunman opened fire in the corridors and classrooms of the building, before shooting himself as security forces closed in on him, police say.
US tourist Hannah Mallicoat told the BBC that she and her family had been on Jan Palach Square during the attack.
"A crowd of people were crossing the street when the first shot hit. I thought it was something like a firecracker or a car backfire until I heard the second shot and people started running," she said.
"I saw a bullet hit the ground on the other side of the square about 30ft [9m] away before ducking into a store. The whole area was blocked off and dozens of police cars and ambulances were going towards the university."
In a statement, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the country had been shocked by this "horrendous act".
"It is hard to find the words to express condemnation on the one hand and, on the other, the pain and sorrow that our entire society is feeling in these days before Christmas."
The gunman is thought to have killed his father at a separate location. He is also suspected in the killing of a young man and his two-month-old daughter who were found dead in a forest on the outskirts of Prague on 15 December.
The attack had one of the largest death tolls of any mass shooting by a lone gunman in Europe this century:
Norway, July 2011 Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people by planting a car bomb that killed eight at an Oslo government building and then shooting dead 69 more, most of them teenagers, at an island summer camp run by the ruling Labour Party's youth wing
Germany, April 2002 Robert Steinhauser, 19, killed 16 people - 13 teachers, two pupils, and a policemen - at the Gutenberg Gymnasium secondary school in the city of Erfurt. He had been expelled from the school the previous autumn
Germany, March 2009 Tim Kretschmer, 17, killed 15 people in a shooting that began at his former school in the town of Winnenden, near Stuttgart. He shot dead nine students and three teachers at the school before going on to the nearby town of Wendlingen, where he shot another three passers-by.
Switzerland, September 2001 Friedrich Leibacher entered the regional parliament building in the city of Zug dressed in a police uniform and shot dead 14 people and injured another 10
Serbia, April 2013 Ljubisa Bogdanovic shot dead thirteen people, including a two-year-old boy, and injured his wife in a village outside Belgrade. Bogdanovic was a military veteran who had fought with Serb forces in the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s.
Founded in 1347, Charles University is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic and one of the oldest such institutions in Europe.
#terrorwave#terror wave#terror#news#terrorist act#terrorism#terrorist#czech republic#xarson#Jan Dlask#Lucie Spindlerova#Lenka Hlavkova#Hannah Mallicoat#Jan Palach Square#Petr Fiala
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Storytime
So...it's time to introduce you to the wicked ways of my weirdness, to show you what it's like to be me, starting from the beginning...
Right now I'm in my first semester at Charles university, Prague. I've been living in the Czech republic for a few months now, I chose to move there right after finishing high school in my home country. I spent years preparing for my life abroad, studying the Czech language, taking care of all the formalities that are necessary to move to a new country, most of it by myself, getting to know the country that I consider my home and I wish to live in for the rest of my life.
Why all this? What made me take such an unexpected choice, leaving behind everything I knew, saying goodbye to my friends and family and to the life I could have had in my home country?
As you could probably guess from my username and the content on my blog, the answer is simple:
Jan Palach
Yes. That Jan Palach. The student who on 16th January 1969 set himself on fire in protest of the apathy and resignation of the Czechoslovak people following the soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. A guy who's been dead for over half a century.
I first heard about him during a time when I was struggling a lot with my mental health. His story gave me strength and hope, what he did reminded me that there are things worth fighting for, things worth living for. I know this sounds kinda paradoxical given that he died because of what he did but that's the point - he was willing to sacrifice his life because he wanted others to live in a better world. He didn't kill himself because he hated life, on the contrary he loved it.
I found something that gave me joy, something I liked doing - reading and watching everything I could find about him. I spent a lot of time researching him and loved every new detail I found out. I started researching him out of admiration for his act and became more and more intrigued by his personality, his interests, the things he believed in...I look up to him a lot. It's incredible how much this helped me getting better mentally and eventually healing from the worst of my mental issues. I started looking forward to the future again, especially after visiting the Czech Republic for the first time.
I came to Prague to pay my respects to Jan Palach, to visit the places where he lived, to say thank you...and fell in love with the city and Czech culture overall more than I expected. I met amazing people and had some of the best experiences of my life, and soon after I realised that moving to Czechia was the right thing to do. That I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't go through with it, that if I stayed in my home country I would never be as happy as I am now.
Two years later I finally packed my things and went on my way...as soon as I left the airport on my arrival I felt that I'd made the right choice and everything that happened since then only confirmed that feeling. Even the bad things. It's not always easy but it feels right, in a way that's hard to convey by words. I sometimes think about how crazy this all is but I'm so glad it happened. I'm thankful for everything I have now, my friends, my hobbies, my new home. I love it every day more. And I don't care how weird it is that all this started because of a guy who died more than half a century ago. Was it only a coincidence that I watched the news that day when they talked about him? Is there more to it? Who knows? Is it relevant? I don't think so.
I hope he'd be happy to know that he saved me and how much he means to me. If I could, I'd thank him for everything.
I started this blog to share my feelings and my journey as an expat in Czechia. You'll find memes, stories of a foreigner's life in Prague and of course a lot of history-related things. I'm happy to answer all your questions and tell you more. I hope to make new friends and find people with whom I can talk about my interests. I'm glad to be here and I love you all, I'm proud of y'all for being here too <3
this post took me waaayyyy too long to write and maybe I'll edit it again sometime in the future, if you read all of this I'm genuinely impressed, please tell me your thoughts in the comments or send an ask if you want to :)
#storytime#my story#introduction post#pinned post#pinned intro#new tumblr#new to tumblr#expat in czechia#expatlife#special interest#jan palach#czechia#czech republic#česko#česká republika#czech#česky#učím se česky#český jazyk#czech language#czech history#čeština#hezky česky#personal#čumblr
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Mother, father, brother, little sister!
When you read this letter, I will already be dead or close to death. I know what a severe blow my act will be to you, but don't be angry at me. Unfortunately, we are not alone in this world. I am not doing this because I would be tired by life, on the contrary, because I cherish it too much. Hopefully my act will make life better. I know the price of life and I know it is the most precious thing. But I want a lot for you, for everyone, so I have to pay a lot. Do not lose your heart after my sacrifice, tell Jacek to study harder and Marta too. You must never accept injustice, be it in any form, my death will bind you. I am sorry that I will never see you or that, which I loved so much. Please forgive me that I fought with you so much. Do not let them make me a madman.
Say hi to the boys, the river and the forest.
Jan Zajíc's (3 July 1950-25 February 1969) letter to his parents. Jan self-immolated following Jan Palach in protest of the passivity and loss of hope of the Czechoslovakian nation under communist Soviet rule.
#from the river to the sea palestine will be free#free palestine#free gaza#aaron bushnell#anti zionisim#it is striking that the cz government was memorialising and heralding jan's sacrifice as they continue to aid in israel's actions#the same day a man across the ocean does the very same act of protest as he did.#all the free palestine signage at my uni campus gets removed daily and it's such a disgrace#but also telling of how much power FREE PALESTINE has. even a sticker with those words is enough to spark anger or compassion
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PRAGUE (AP) — A mass shooting in downtown Prague killed 10 people and injured about 30 others, and the person who opened fire also is dead, Czech police and the city’s rescue service said Thursday.
Police gave no details about the victims or the circumstances of the gunfire in the Czech Republic’s capital. They said officers were deployed due to a shooting at a school in Jan Palach Square.
The philosophy department of Charles University, which is located in the square, was evacuated, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said.
The police department said the square has been sealed off. It urged people to leave the surrounding streets and stay inside.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said no other assailant was at the scene, but he urged people to cooperate with police.
Prague’s rescue service confirmed that 11 people had died, including the shooter. It said about 30 others suffered various injuries, including nine with serious ones.
Pavel Nedoma, the director of Rudolfinum Gallery, which also is located in the square, told Czech public television he saw from a window a person who was shooting from a gun toward the nearby Manes bridge across the Vltava River.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala canceled his scheduled events and was heading for Prague.
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The president of the Czech police announced that a 24-year-old student from the village of Hostoun, outside Prague, was responsible for a mass shooting at the Czech capital’s Charles University on Thursday that left 15 people dead.
Among the dead was the shooter himself, whose father was also found dead earlier in the day, the Czech police president, Martin Vondrasek, told a press conference flanked by the interior minister, Vit Rakusan.
The death toll could rise as Prague’s emergency services reported that about 30 others had suffered various injuries, including nine who had sustained serious wounds.
At 15:17, the Czech Police announced on social media they were responding to a shooting at a university building on Jan Palach Square, where Charles University’s Faculty of Philosophy is located.
Approximately, 40 minutes later, the Czech Police posted that the shooter had been killed and the building was being evacuated after the entire area had been closed off. The police president said the shooter, who remains unnamed, died by his own hand, but not before he had shot at the arriving police. No police were injured.
Television pictures showed students being led out of the building, while other students could be seen standing on ledges of the building in downtown Prague. At 17:17 the police announced they had evacuated the entire building and were searching it for explosives.
A former reporter for BIRN, Jakob Weizman, who is now a student studying at the university, posted on social media that he was stuck inside his classroom in Prague and was waiting to be evacuated. “Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it,” he said.
Fatal shootings, especially mass ones, are rare in the Czech Republic, though not unheard of. In 2015, a gunman opened fire at a restaurant in the eastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight people before shooting himself dead.
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WHAT
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I was in Prague in 1989 for the Velvet Revolution. I attended the commemoration of the self-immolation of a 20-year-old university student named Jan Palach. Palach had stood on the steps outside the National Theater in Wenceslas Square in 1969, poured petrol over himself and lit himself on fire. He died of his wounds three days later. He left behind a note saying that this act was the only way to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which had taken place five months earlier. His funeral procession was broken up by police. When frequent candlelit vigils were held at his grave at Olsany cemetery, the communist authorities, determined to stamp out his memory, disinterred his body, cremated it and handed the ashes to his mother.
Chris Hedges
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