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Jan Palach with his older brother Jiří and mother, 24 June 1950 (Source: Jiří Palach’s archives)
Jan Palach’s assessment written by the headmaster of the secondary school in Mělník, 27 February 1969 (Source: ABS)
Jan Palach’s record book from VŠE. (Source: Archive of Charles University)
Report about a boy killed by occupation soldiers; placed on the pedestal of the St Wenceslas statue. Jan Palach took a photo of it on 22 August 1968 (Photo: Jan Palach)
Anti-occupation inscriptions Jan Palach wrote in August 1968 with his friends in Všetaty (Source: ABS)
The area in front of the National Museum where Jan Palach set himself on fire, 16 January 1969 (Source: ABS)
The letter Jan Palach left in the briefcase at the place where he committed self-immolation (Source: ABS)
The deceased, Jan Palach, 19 January 1969 (Photo: Vladimír Tůma)
Gathering in front of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 20 January 1969 (Source: ABS)
Education Minister, Vilibald Bezdíček, during his funeral speech, 25 January 1969 (Source: ABS)
Pastor Jakub S. Trojan at Jan Palach’s grave (Source: ABS)
Jan Palach’s grave in the Olšany cemetery, 1969 (Source: ABS)
Jan Palach’s bronze gravestone was designed by sculptor Olbram Zoubek. The photo was taken by the StB, who had it melted down in 1970 (Source: ABS)
A flyer informing about gatherings organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Jan Palach’s self-immolation (Source: Libri prohibiti)
The monument to Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc in Wenceslas Square in Prague was designed by Barbora Veselá and unveiled on 16 January 2000 (Photo: Viktor Portel)

Chronology

Here you can find an overview of the main events concerning Jan Palach’s life and the corresponding dates.

11 August 1948 – Jan Palach was born in Prague hospital in Londýnská Street
1 September 1954 – began attending primary school in Všetaty
3 January 1962 – his father Josef died in hospital in Brandýs
1 September 1963 – began attending secondary general school in Mělník
June 1966 – passed secondary school leaving exams and enrolled at the University of Economics in Prague
26 June 1967 – several weeks in the Soviet Union
March 1968 – co-founded the Students’ Council at the University of Economics
30 June 1968 – several weeks’ working trip to Leningrad region
17 August 1968 – coming back home from the Soviet Union
21 August 1968 – first day of occupation, he went from Všetaty to Prague where he participated in street demonstrations
1 October 1968 – his first trip to a West-European country, a seasonal job in France
19 October 1968 – coming back home from France
October 1968 – started studying at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague
28 October 1968 – visited T. G. Masaryk’s grave in Lány
7 November 1968 – participated in Prague street protest against Czechoslovak occupation
18–21 November 1968 – occupation strike at Charles University
6 December 1968 – passed his last university exam
24 December 1968 – joined the midnight mass in the Roman-Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Všetaty
25 December 1968 – joined the Evangelic church service in Libiš

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6 January 1969 – wrote a letter to Lubomír Holeček, student leader, suggesting an occupation of the Czechoslovak Radio main building in order to air an appeal for general strike
15 January 1969 – attended funeral of his uncle Ferdinand Kostomlatský in Libiš
16 January 1969, 6:00 a.m. – went by train from Všetaty to Prague
16 January 1969, around 8:00 a.m. – arrived to Spořilov hall of residence, drafted and wrote four different versions of farewell letter which he signed as “Torch No. 1”
16 January 1969, around 11:00 a.m. – left the hall of residence, bought stamps and a postcard which he sent together with his three farewell letters
16 January 1969, 11:00.–12:30 a.m. – bought two plastic bottles in Na Poříčí Street 22, had them filled with petrol in Opletalova Street 9 and left for Wenceslas Square
16 January 1969, around 2:25 p.m. – reached the fountain near the National Museum, poured petrol over himself and set himself on fire
16 January 1969, around 2:45 p.m. – an ambulance of the Ministry of Interior brought him to the specialised clinic of plastic surgery in Legerova Street
17 January 1969, 10:30–11:00 a.m. – visited by his brother and mother
17 January 1969, morning – psychiatrist MUDr. Zdenka Kmuníčková tape-recorded her interview with Jan Palach
19 January 1969 – visited by his friend Eva Bednáriková and university activist Lubomír Holeček who later interpreted his alleged last words
19 January 1969, 3:30 p.m. – Jan Palach died in the hospital in Legerova Street
20 January 1969 – public remembrance ceremony for Jan Palach

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23 January 1969 – General Secretary of the CC CPSU Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev and Chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin sent a letter to their Czechoslovak counterparts, expressing their concerns over the situation in Czechoslovakia and calling Jan Palach “a victim of instigators”
25 January 1969 – Jan Palach’s funeral
22 October 1973 – exhumation of Jan Palach’s body in Olšany cemetery under the secret police officers´ supervision and its subsequent burning in Strašnice crematorium
March 1974 – Jan Palach’s urn is placed in his family grave in Všetaty
15–20 January 1989 – anti-regime demonstrations and national procession to Všetaty (“Palach week”)
25 October 1990 – ceremonial transport of Jan Palach’s urn from Všetaty to the Olšany cemetery
28 October 1991 – Czechoslovak President Václav Havel awarded Jan Palach, in memoriam, the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, First Class for his outstanding contributions to democracy and human rights

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