Jan Palach wreath laying ceremony; Credit: Jazmin Campbell

Yesterday, on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of Jan Palach’s death, the Czech Embassy in Luxembourg held a wreath laying ceremony in Luxembourg City’s Square Jan Palach.

In honour of the Czech student Jan Palach, who took his own life in January 1969, the Czech Ambassador to Luxembourg Petr Kubernát and President of the ATSL (Amitiés tchècque et slovaque – Luxembourg) Marta Vacca Veselá, accompanied by the Ville de Luxembourg’s Deputy Mayor Serge Wilmes and councillor Tom Krieps, lay flowers in front of the Jan Palach commemorative plaque in Square Jan Palach, by the Place d’Armes.

Jan Palach was 21 years old when he committed suicide in an act of political protest against the invasion of then-Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union. On 16 January 1969, the young history and political economy student set himself on fire in Prague’s Wenceslas Square.

Having maintained diplomatic relations with the Czech Republic since 1922, Luxembourg inaugurated a plaque dedicated to the memory of Jan Palach just a few months after his death, on 20 August 1969- the first anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Indeed, the square’s plaque “Square Jan Palach” was put in place at first unofficially by the late LSAP politician Robert Krieps and a colleague of his, before the Ville de Luxembourg officially recognised this as the square’s name.

Yesterday’s wreath-laying ceremony was followed by a reception at the Czech Embassy in Luxembourg, where Ambassador Petr Kubernát discussed Czech-Luxembourgish relations and offered mulled wine and snacks to his guests. Present at the reception were members of the Czech community in Luxembourg, as well as members of the Luxembourgish press, among others.