The Closure of the Czech Universities

JAN 01 1939 · 12:00

Jan Opletal, medical student, photographed around 1934. Shot during the 28 October 1939 demonstrations, his funeral on 15 November triggered the closure of the Czech universities two days later. Place: Ruzyně barracks; the streets of Prague; Sachsenhausen Figures: Jan Opletal, medical student (shot 28 October, died 11 November) · nine student leaders, executed at Ruzyně · 1,200 students deported to Sachsenhausen October 28, 1939 is the twenty-first anniversary of Czechoslovak independence. Demonstrations break out across Prague despite the German ban. A young medical student, Jan Opletal, is shot in the abdomen on Žitná street. He dies on November 11. His funeral procession on November 15 turns into a vast silent demonstration: thousands of students walk behind the coffin from the Pathology Institute to Wilson Station, where the body is sent home to Moravia. Berlin, watching, decides on a response disproportionate by design. Hitler personally orders reprisal. K. H. Frank, State Secretary, signs the operational directive late on November 16.