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Never resign yourself. On January 16, 1969, the young Czech student Jan Palach, 20, immolated himself in the fire on Wenceslas Square in Prague. His ultimate act made Palach a national hero, a symbol of the struggle against the Soviet occupation. The French writer Anthony Sitruk was inspired by his biography to make a fictional essay : " The short life of Jan Palach ". Interview.
RFI : Why take an interest in Jan Palach's life ? What was the trigger for you, the starting point ?
Anthony Sitruk : This is a character I find fascinating and very romantic. It's really a fabulous subject for a novel. For me, the trigger was the discovery of a documentary, more than twenty years ago, called Palach, die for freedom and that I discovered totally by chance. It was fascinating immediately, so overwhelming that I almost felt guilty for having such a comfortable life while others could do such incredible things as this one. That's how it was done. After that there was a long maturation of more than twenty years for this book.
The second click was made during my vacation in Prague, in 2009, totally by chance. It was a shock. I thought, what would be the next subject of my second novel? It would be Palach. In what form, I do not know yet, but he will be one of the characters of my novel.
By discovering, in a nutshell, that " brief life " of Jan Palach, who was only twenty years old when he set himself on fire in Prague, what struck you most about his destiny ? How was it different ?
Until his death or, more precisely, until January 16, 1969, the day of his immolation, he is a student like any other. He may be a little smarter or a little more politicized than the average, but he does not go out of the way until then. He manifests like the others, he is passionate about the Prague Spring, he distributes some leaflets of Solzhenitsyn, but it does not go any further. On January 16, 1969, he immolated himself by fire on Wenceslas Square. He becomes more than a hero, a myth at that time. He died three days later. And what is romantic, strong, incredible is that it is here that his story begins. It will continue for two decades and beyond. Even today, we have new monuments and new films that are turned on him. In any case, for two decades Jan Palach frequently comes back on the lips and in the minds of people, in spite of the leaden flag that falls on Czechoslovakia and on Palach's family.
Why him ? There were other immolations by fire, other fates broken by these events of 1968. Why does Jan Palach mark a turning point and become the symbol of this Soviet invasion ?
He is there at the right time and in the right place, in Wenceslas Square. It's the biggest place, it's 3pm, a Thursday afternoon, people are out of work. If we take the case of Ryszard Siwiec, a Pole who immolates himself in September 1968 in reaction against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He does it to protest against this invasion. There are ten thousand people in the stadium where he immolates himself, and yet we forget him. Why, do not we forget Palach? He knows that he alone will not get the foreign army out of his country. Instead of immolating himself against the invasion and demanding the withdrawal of the troops, he asks the people to wake up. He makes everyone feel guilty by saying, "You are resigned, you are indifferent to what is happening, you have resumed your little life." The whole Czechoslovak society at the time is entirely guilty of this act. She feels responsible for a young man of twenty.
How does this guilt manifest itself? What is the immediate reaction of Czechoslovak society after its death ?
There is a documentary by Raymond Depardon who is filmed in Prague at the time and in which a young woman speaks of a "guilt procession" accompanying Palach at his funeral. So, the feeling of guilt is there immediately. And then, the population gets scared. Jan Palach, in his letter, signs " torch number one " and indicates that a group of students is ready to follow his example. In Czechoslovak society, it is the utmost fright. The police and the state are themselves on maximum alert to find out who these other students are. When this letter was broadcast throughout the city of Prague, we say that his son or daughter can be the next.
You also talk about your own guilt. It's not a classic biography, but a fictionalized essay where you also speak about yourself, this gulf that exists between the West and the East and you question yourself about this guilt that you carry within you. Why feel guilty ?
I feel privileged in the life I had. I have a classic life: I lived in the suburbs, I went to school, I went on vacation, I ate well, I never had an invasion, I did not even do my military service that was stopped before I went there. Compared to Jan Palach, but also to my parents and grandparents, by chance, I have not experienced anything of it. Today, ok, I do not have to fight an invasion, but with all the current movements that we see today in society, all the news around this movement of "yellow vests", there is For a while I had a resignation, a lethargy, from everyone, that made us accept certain unacceptable things. You have to wake up. Some will demonstrate in the street. I said to myself, "how can I wake up? What can this awakening do? This book has been my way of manifesting.
This ultimate act of Jan Palach still plays a role in the current Czech society ? Is not it forgotten ?
Even beyond Czech society he is very present. We see it a lot on social networks. As soon as there is someone who will do an act of revolt or rebellion, we talk about Jan Palach, including France. There was a concert last week in Verona as a tribute to Jan Palach. To return to the Czech Republic, he is the local hero. Historian Kathryn Murphy said that the three names that were for the Czech people synonymous with freedom and democracy were Jan Hus who died in 1415, Jan Opletal died in 1939 and Jan Palach, and that these three- there are joining through the centuries. It's a hero like us in France we do not know anymore. For having seen the program that is planned for the 50th anniversary of his death, there are four to five days of commemoration, not only in Prague, but also in other cities, including Mělník where there was his high school and Všetaty where he was born. This is a hero we will celebrate for a week.
In France, moreover it is not really known ...
In France, already at the time of the fall of the wall and the end of the Soviet era, I had a teacher who told us: " you will not fall on it in the baccalaureate, because we ourselves do not understand anything . " All that was 1989, revolution, Jan Palach, Prague Spring, etc., in France we did not understand anything. We know the name of Jan Palach, we know pretty much what he did, but we mix everything, we confuse the Prague Spring with the invasion of August.
Two busts of Jan Palach were erected in Béziers and in a university campus of Dijon. But we do not have in place Jan Palach, despite the reminders of the Czech ambassador. We have elsewhere: for example in Mauritius there is a Jan Palach station. I do not even speak about Italy, Great Britain or Switzerland where there are monuments and places Jan Palach.
How did the story of Jan Palach influence art later ?
I wonder if the founding immolation would not be that of the monk Thich Quang Duc who immolated himself in Saigon, in 1963. There is a picture of Malcolm Browne (Saigon correspondent for the Associated Press) who did the world tour, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. This photo really stayed. Jan Palach, we have no picture of him. We even have very few images of him before his death, only a few seconds.
I found several novels that allude to Palach. There are novels by Vaclav Havel, former Czech president. There is a novel called Summer in Prague which makes Jan Palach a character that the hero meets at the turn of a university. There is a TV series shot in 2012 and broadcast on Arte in 2014. There was a film last year. There are biographies, museums, exhibitions. He is there constantly.
Can we compare the beginning of the Arab Spring and the immolation by the fire of Mohamed Bouazizi with the immolation of Jan Palach ?
For me, there are two big differences. The self-immolation by the fire of Jan Palach closes a revolution. From the moment he immolates himself, paradoxically, instead of reinforcing the revolt of the population, his act helps to put him to sleep. People say to themselves, "If I want to get the military out of my country, I have to be ready to die." So, many were very scared.
Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia said a few days before dying: "I am forced to live like a nothing, I can not live, it is not possible." His act is extremely desperate. He does not want to wake up a people. Where Jan Palach sacrifices himself to do it. Jan Palach's gesture brings hope.
What did Jan Palach teach you ?
Do not resign yourself. I think Jan Palach's message is not to stand up, take up arms and deal with a tank. I think he knows we can not do it all. On the other hand, he tells us not to resign ourselves. I can not resign myself to the unfair things I hear on television, the things I read, that could happen tomorrow in my workplace. I can not tell myself "it's like that" I hear it too much: "it's like that". Jan Palach was against it. That's what I remember from his message.
► Anthony Sitruk: The brief life of Jan Palach , editions Le Dilettante, 192 pages.