Jan Zajíc follows

2022

The Palach and Zajíc memorial at the foot of the National Museum, Wenceslas Square. Zajíc became the second torch on 25 February 1969. Place: Passage at number 39 Wenceslas Square (Pasáž U Sviatošů) Figures: Jan Zajíc, eighteen, gymnasium student from Vítkov in northern Moravia · Evžen Plocek, forty (will follow in April, in Jihlava) Five weeks after Palach's funeral, on the twenty-first anniversary of the Communist seizure of power, the eighteen-year-old Jan Zajíc takes a train from Vítkov to Prague. He carries a typewritten letter, a thermos of petrol, and acid pills to deaden the throat. He has chosen the day deliberately: February 25, 1948–1969, the anniversary Gottwald created and the regime still celebrates. He enters the passage at number 39 Wenceslas Square, swallows the pills so he will not be saved by his vocal cords (Palach had been able to dictate; Zajíc decides not to give that possibility to the police), douses himself, and lights the match. He dies on the spot, before any passer-by reaches him. He is the second of what would become a Central European chain across that spring. The subject dates from 1969; this photograph was taken in 2022.