Word: czechoslovakia
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Appalled Reaction. The purpose of Palach's self-immolation was contained in a note found in his overcoat pocket. To rescue Czechoslovakia from the "edge of hopelessness," he had written, a group of volunteers had decided to burn themselves, one by one, as a protest. Palach made two demands of the government: an end to censorship and the prohibition of the Soviets' occupation newspaper, Zprávy. Considering the finality of his act, they were remarkably modest requests. The note was signed, "Torch...
Suicide for political reasons is hardly a novel idea in Czechoslovakia. At least a score of Stalinist Party Boss Antonin Novotný's lieutenants took their own lives, usually by hanging, in the early days of Alexander Dubček's regime. Shortly after the Stalinist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948, the Communists announced that Wartime Leader Jan Masaryk, son of Tomás, had jumped out of a window-a claim that seemed credible to many Czechoslovaks despite evidence that he was pushed. Many of Palach's mourners compared him to Jan Hus, the 15th century...
Still, there is no precedent in Czechoslovakia for Palach's attempt to provoke unrest by the deliberate, fiery kind of self-destruction that Buddhists used in South Viet Nam, and the first appalled reaction was to dismiss his act as the product of a deranged mind...
...bizarre and frightful contagion, no fewer than ten other young men, six inside Czechoslovakia and four elsewhere in Europe, set themselves ablaze in eight days following Palach's suicide. They included a 23-year-old Brno locksmith who burned himself in front of a memorial to Palach; a 24-year-old Czechoslovak serving time for robbery; and a 35-year-old Austrian dairy worker who had just been dismissed from his job. None apparently acted from political motives, and several had previous records of suicide attempts. Local authorities could only speculate that they thought they could somehow achieve Palach...
...peasants. At the same time, he is subtly disengaging himself from unpopular De Gaulle positions. Though he agreed with the Israeli embargo, he did not like De Gaulle's innuendo that Jews unduly influenced the French press. Pompidou also believes, in light of Russian intransigence over Czechoslovakia, that France should renew Western ties weakened by De Gaulle. Significantly, his 1969 agenda tentatively includes trips to the U.S., Mexico and Canada, as well as tours of the French provinces to discuss domestic problems. His next major venture: a February appearance in Geneva where, for the benefit of a French audience...