Velehrad

Velehrad Velehrad v Londýně <![CDATA[19. Around the time of his death and during the funeral, there was a vigil by students at the base of Saint WencelavÕs statue in Prague. People holding black flags and Czech flags, pictures of Palach and messages from foreign students. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[8. People on the pavements watch the funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[7. The funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[6. The funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[5. The funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[4.The funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[3. The funeral procession through the streets of Prague. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[2. Palach's family in the funeral Procession. Palach's mother died in her early 50's killed they say by grief, but also by constant interogation and harassment by the secret police. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[1. The courtyard of the historical Charles University (1347) in Prague. The coffin with PalachÕs body lays next to the the statue of Jan Hus a Czech scholar who was burned by the Catholic Church during the reformation. University dignitaries surround the coffin while people press closer to pay their respects. Palach was buried in PragueÕs OLSANY cemetery, but his grave was visited by such large crowds that the secret police exhumed the body, cremated it and returned the ashes to his mother in the village of Vsetaty, where it was not allowed to be buried until 1974.The grave then became a pilgrimage for dissidents on the anniversary of his death; though each year the secret police arrested people there. Jan Palach was a twenty year old student of Philosophy in Prague when the Russians invaded Czechosolvakia in August 1968. By January of 1969, he and a group of student friends felt that that nation needed re-awakening' from the fatelistic lethagy that had set in following the invasion. They decided that one of them would set himself on fire as their way of protest. To choose they picked matches, Jan Palach, as they say in Englished picked the short straw.]]> <![CDATA[OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA ]]>