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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)
The plaque to Jan Palach on the wall of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague and the plaque to Jan Zajíc on the wall of the Technical Secondary School in Šumperk. Both plaques were created by sculptor Olbram Zoubek and unveiled in 1991. (Photo: Charles University, Patrik Eichler)
The plaque to Jan Palach on the wall of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague and the plaque to Jan Zajíc on the wall of the Technical Secondary School in Šumperk. Both plaques were created by sculptor Olbram Zoubek and unveiled in 1991. (Photo: Charles University, Patrik Eichler)
The monument to Evžen Plocek in Masaryk Square in Jihlava (Source: Czech News Agency, photo: Luboš Pavlíček)
In 1980, Czechoslovak expatriates living in Switzerland published a collection of poems, short essays, and testimonies called Živé pochodně (Living torches). (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
The first detailed book on Jan Palach’s self-immolation was written by journalist, Jiří Lederer, and it was published in 1982 in Switzerland. (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
In 1990, the Czech translation of Jiří Lederer’s book was published. (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
In 1991, students of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague compiled an anthology of texts and photos called Ve jménu života Vašeho... (In the Name of Your Life...) (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
Miroslav Slach was Jan Palach’s history teacher at primary school in Všetaty. In 1994, he published a memorial book on his famous pupil. (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
In 2009, a detailed collection covering the various contexts of Jan Palach’s act was published. (Source: Petr Blažek’s archives)
On 9 August 1991, a postage stamp with Jan Palach’s portrait and a coupon of Sdružení pro nadaci studenta Jana Palacha (Foundation of the Jan Palach Association) was issued. This is an envelope from the issue day. (A reproduction from the collection of the Postal Museum)

Tradition after November 1989

“Inconspicuous or invisible monuments can be built; you need only to inscribe the victims’ names on a stone slab and place it upside down. Who doesn’t want to see such a monument, doesn’t have to. I think there is only one anti-monument in the Czech Republic. It was created by Barbora Veselá in remembrance of Jan Palach and it stands in Wenceslas Square right in front of the National Museum...”

Václav Cílek

After November 1989, Jan Palach could be remembered freely and publicly for the first time. On 20 December 1989, the square in front of the main building of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague was once again renamed after him (it was renamed in honour of Jan Palach quite spontaneously in January 1969). A plaque made by sculptor Olbram Zoubek with a replica of Jan Palach’s death mask was placed on the Faculty building. The symbolic day of homecoming was 25 October 1990, as it was the day of the ceremonial transport of the urn with Jan Palach’s ashes from Všetaty to the Olšany cemetery in Prague. Jiří Lederer’s book on Jan Palach’s act was published in the same year.

On 28 October 1991, President Václav Havel bestowed Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc in memoriam the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st rank, for their outstanding contribution to the development of democracy and human rights. In 2000, an extraordinary monument to Jan Palach and Jan Zajíc was built in front of the National Museum in Prague.

The Student Strike Committee, which was established at the Faculty of Arts in Prague during the revolution, later initiated the establishment of the Faculty Student Fund that was supposed to work as an instrument facilitating the communication between students and the Faculty management.

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The Student Council served as its executive body, and since the early 1990s, it has been organizing commemorative events on the anniversaries of Jan Palach’s self-immolation. These events usually consist of small memorial ceremonies, documentary screenings, and panel discussions.

In 2009, the Student Council participated in commemorations of the 40th anniversary of Jan Palach’s act, including a memorial ceremony, concert, mass, exhibition and conference. On this occasion, a detailed book called Jan Palach '69 was published. Moreover, Jan Palach’s monument was unveiled that year in Mělník, in front of the grammar school he attended.

Since the early 1990s, a memorial ceremony takes place every year in Všetaty under the auspices of the Society of Jan Palach. Furthermore, a private memorial ceremony takes place regularly in the Olšany cemetery in Prague.

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