On this day – 17th of November 1939 – 9 students were executed in Prague (International students day)
A Czech student, Opletal, was killed in an anti-Nazi demonstration
on the 11th of November, and his funeral led to huge student
demonstrations in Prague. This again led Nazi-Germany to storm the universities
in Czech and close them down. Nine students and professors were executed,
without trial, on the 17th of November, while another 1200 Czech
students were sent to German concentration camps. Today the 17th of
November is celebrated as the International Students Day in many countries in
remembrance of the events in Prague. The
day was first marked in 1941 by the International Students Council in London.
On November 17th 1989 was a huge demonstration held in Prague in memory of the
events 50 years earlier. The demonstration and the aftermath helped spark the “velvet revolution” in Czechoslovakia.
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| Jan Opletal, the murdered student whos funeral led to more demonstrations |
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