Silent scream is streaming down the street ****************************************************************************************** * Self-immolation is for today’s media less attractive than hanging twenty plushy hangmans Vltava ****************************************************************************************** Michal Ježek, one of chief managers, was interviewed about a memorial to the anniversary o self-immolation. What is the relationship between Jan Palach and Charles University? Jan Palach studied at Faculty of Arts at the time of his deed. He studied here for about f before, he had studied for two years at the University of Economics – the school, however, care of his legacy. Sincerely, I don’t know why. Both Faculty of Arts and Charles Universi their symbol; they contribute to all projects related to Jan Palach and his legacy. We kno did not originally want to study at University of Economics but was not accepted by Facult a great number of applicants. The letter of acceptance was delivered to him on 17th August 1968 when he came back to Cze USSR; there he had been on a workcamp in Kazakhstan. Do you think Jan Palach was a hero? I use the word “personality” rather than hero. The hero presupposes a mature person, but J not in his twenties be a completely mature man. However, he certainly was very sensitive a Has the fame, the popularity of Jan Palach been changing in last 45 years? What about the to him? The immediate reaction of Czechoslovak society is very well illustrated by the pictures fr funeral marches [ URL "http://janpalach.cz/cs/default/jan-palach/pohreb"] flowing through began in Karolinum where the coffin was displayed; then, people went ahead over the Old To Faculty of Arts. I do like the song of Bohdan Mikolášek composed at that time: “silent is streaming down th sings. A short time ago I have been talking to people who had been with Palach in Kazakhst to say him goodbye at his coffin… they say, if a pin fell down in the march, everyone woul A year later, public events became very sporadic. Censorship was deleting Palach’s legacy of the society, and people were afraid of punishment. Nevertheless, foreign newspapers wer Palach, and groups of Czech emigrants made efforts to commemorate his legacy with both pub events. Czechoslovak society woke up at 20th anniversary of Palach’s deed. On Sunday 15th January regime groups (České děti, Charta 77, Mírový klub Johna Lennona, Nezávislé mírové sdružení přátel USA – Czech Children, Charta 77, John Lennon’s Peace Club, Independent Peace Associ of Friends of the USA) organized a commemorative meeting at the statue of Saint Wenceslas Prague. After a long time it was a remarkable social manifestation inspired by Palach, and into demonstrations and other social protests ending up in Velvet Revolution. One can see symbols play for us. You have already devoted a few years of intensive work to Jan Palach’s legacy. Why did you It is important for a society to know examples of people from its modern history which wer sensitive to what was happening around them. Examples of people who were able to stress wh here and now, to stress it very boldly and with a great self-denial. Almost everyone forge Jan Palach left a letter with specific political requirements: ban on spreading the propag Zprávy (News) that was delivered obligatorily to everyone; prohibition on censorship; appe strike for which there were conditions after his deed. At the same time he behaved sensibl place of his deed in order to make the greatest possible number of people see him. Who were behind the idea of the website about Jan Palach? What was their motivation? If I remember correctly, three years ago, after organizing the events to remember the self death of Jan Palach we told each other: all right, good job, but it would be fine to do so persistent as long as memory of a society is, by nature, leaky. There was a large monography Jan Palach ’69 and an exhibition of the same name. The websit Palach [ URL "http://janpalach.eu"] is a natural follow-up and culmination of such work. What is the main purpose of the website? Are you going to build and advertise it actively? The website focuses on the most general audience; that is why it was translated into diffe – English, German, Polish and other. For example, a Russian version is planned for 45th an students of translatology showed an interest in the task. One big section of the website contains stories of Palach’s followers. Only Jan Zajíc is m although in Czech Republic it was also Evžen Plocek, and numerous examples of politically immolations are known from abroad. Recently we have been interested in cases of self-immol last time because their motivations are rather unknown; usually there is nothing more than in Czech Press Agency. The majority of cases are probably based on personal psychical prob to be analyzed yet. I do not consider self-immolation a good idea nowadays. It does not interest the public fo is overloaded with shocking news – moreover, I think the deed cannot be repeated because i specific political situation. Are you going to work further on? Are there some new projects concerning Jan Palach planne Yes, we are. We would like to translate the website into Russian and maybe even Chinese. W about other historical texts, namely about an archive of contemporary witnesses – we have memories from a number of personal observers. We have another idea of quite a huge project. To 50th anniversary of Palach’s self-immolat to open a museum of Jan Palach in the house of his family in Všetaty. But this is still ra At the Faculty of Arts a historical event happened: the world premiere of the document abo his family Burning Bush (Hořící keř). How would you explain the fact that it was shot by a director Agnieszka Holland and not by one of well-known Czech directors? Agnieszka Holland belongs to the world top class of directors. In 1960s she studied in Pra she has a strong relationship to both the topic and the environment. Documents about Jan P already been produced by Czech directors as well but this is the first drama (or more prec series); moreover, it is exceptionally well-written and shot. During the presidential election we experienced rising of political activity in public, an students. Is it possible that today’s activists are also inspired by Jan Palach’s legacy? Let’s differentiate two things. First: the particular social and political conditions whic reacted to. We find ourselves in conditions fundamentally different, and the presidential have absolutely different meaning for the society than the 1968 invasion did. You could wo assumption, but only very vaguely, and Palach’s legacy would be in a certain manner exploi can be used as a parallel for anything of your choice. Many people project their problems and frustrations into Jan Palach; many people exploit h and many people do not understand him because they lack proper information. The question w would say about, for example, the movement “Vote for Karel!” is quite absurd.