Torch No.1

On this day in 1969, at 4pm, Jan Palach self immolated himself on the steps of the National Museum at Wencelas Square in Prague in protest at the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, the crushing of the Prague Spring and the attempt to bring into being, "Socialism with a Human Face".

He died on the 19th of January as a result of the injuries he sustained.

I've read pretty much everything the net has to offer in relation to poems and memorials and not much does justice to the sheer weight of the event, he had wanted to shake the conscience of the nation and the reverberations eventually climaxed in 1989 and the Velvet Revolution.

I don't know if he what he did was right or wrong, selfish or selfless, but it was a powerful gesture and one that he described as an attempt: "to awaken a kernel of strength in the nation". Certainly it did that, groups like Charter 77 were instrumental in the critique and building of opposition to the Soviet backed bureaucracy over the next 20 years and they drew great inspiration from the sacrifice of Palach.

This is a painting entitled: "Happy Birthday Jan Palach" by a guy called Stuart Davis, it's the only piece that resonates with me that I've seen regarding the subject so far.

"I believe that revolution would represent the first step towards realising oppressed humanity's dreams and aspirations."
- Jan Palach (1948-1969)