Political Activist. He is remembered as a student political activist protesting the Communist invasion in his homeland, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defiance. Born the son of Libuše Kostomlatská and Josef Palach, a candy manufacturer, his family's business was confiscated by the Communist regime in 1951, and when he was fourteen years old, his father died after becoming a millworker. His mother became a shop worker and his only sibling, a seven-year-older brother, went to work. After secondary school, he was denied a place in the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. Eventually he enrolled in classes at Charles University's Faculty of Philosophy in 1968 studying history and political economics. In 1968, he co-founded the Academic Council of Students at the University. During the so-called Prague Spring that year, his interest in politics peaked. As a student, he was allowed to travel both to the Soviet Union and France, taking part in student work brigades. That August, he was approved to transfer to the Faculty of Arts. Days later, on August 20th, the Soviet military with tanks invaded his country, hard line Communists retook positions of power, and reforms were curtailed. He participated in protests and strikes against the occupation to little effect. He decided more radical protests were required if only to encourage fellow Czechs, who seemed to accept the Communist occupation after the Nazi occupation during World War II. He apparently saw their stance as beaten down and too accepting, and he wanted to inspire resistance. In his final letter, he demanded the end of press censorship and called on the people to strike. At 4 PM on January 16, 1969, he went to Wenceslas Square, poured gasoline over himself and set himself alight. He ran towards the St Wenceslas statue before falling, when passers-by smothered the flames with their coats. Still conscious, with burns over 85 percent of his body, he was taken to the hospital. From his hospital bed, he was quoted as saying, "[The protest] was not so much in opposition to the Soviet occupation, but the demoralization which was setting in; that people were not only giving up, but giving in." He left a suicide letter calling for a national strike in protest of the Communist dictatorship. He succumbed to his injuries three days later. Tens of thousands queued to pay respects while his casket lay in Charles University. His funeral turned into a mass demonstration of opposition against the Soviet occupation. Several students, not only in Czechoslovakia but in Hungary and Latvia, followed him setting themselves a flame in protest of the Communist occupation. He was said to be the first. With his grave in Prague becoming a national shrine, guards were posted at the graveside to deter visitors. In October of 1973, without asking the family's permission, the Secret Police removed his headstone, cremated his remains and sent his ashes to his mother in Všetaty. She was not permitted to bury the ashes until 1974. On October 25, 1990, following the fall of the Communist state, the ashes were returned to Prague. Today in the 21st century, a bronze cross with burnt edges has been imbedded on the brick walkway in front of the National Museum in his honor. At Wenceslas Square, a modest memorial was erected to honor him and Jan Zajíc, another student, who followed in Palach's footsteps a month later setting himself a blaze in protest. In 1991 Czechoslovakia President Vaclav Havel posthumously awarded Palach a medal for serving democracy and upholding human rights, and over the years, several patriotic songs were written about him. After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, his actions were enthusiastically remembered, and after the collapse of the Communist rule, his bust was unveiled in a school in his hometown on January 16, 1999. In 2018 a two-hour film, "Jan Palach," was released documenting the last six months of his life. A wall plaque with his death mask by sculptor Olbram Zoubek was unveiled on January 16, 2019 at the Charles University Faculty of Arts on Jan Palach Square.