Webinar: Fighting for Freedom — International Students' Day

Overview

Jan Opletal was a third-year medical student at Charles University in Prague when Hitler and the Nazis invaded Prague on March 15, 1939. Later that year, on October 28, the anniversary of the founding of democratic Czechoslovakia, thousands of people, including Opletal and hundreds of students from Charles University, gathered near Wenceslas Square to protest Nazi occupation. The Nazi police opened fire on the crowd, killing bakery worker Václav Sedláček and Opletal.

More than 3,000 students attended Opletal’s November 15 memorial. Nazis raided university dormitories two days later, November 17, 1939, executing nine student union leaders and sending 1,200 students to concentration camps. Nazis closed all Czech universities and student organizations, and they would remain closed until Prague’s 1945 liberation.

In 1941, November 17 was declared International Students’ Day in memory of Opletal and other students who were subsequently killed.

Decades later, November 17, 1989, rallies commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1939 Nazi raid on universities turned into a demonstration demanding democratic reforms. Prime Minister Ladislav Adamec was forced to hold talks with the Civic Forum, which was led by still-dissident (soon to be President) Vaclav Havel. The Civic Forum demanded the resignation of the communist government, the release of prisoners of conscience, and investigations into the November 17 police action.