November 17th: The Blood That Sowed Freedom in Prague.

On October 28th, 1939, Czechoslovakia celebrated 21 years of independence. However, the Nazi occupation had transformed the date into a day of protest and sorrow, a prelude to a bloody day that would be forever etched in the memory of the students.

What should have been a national holiday became an act of resistance. Since March of that year, the Hitler regime had imposed its absolute rule. The Treaty of Munich and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia served as a pretext for stripping the Czechs of their sovereignty.

The freedom that had seemed secure was uprooted, leaving an entire people under the weight of oppression. Among the dissenters was Jan Opletal, a medical student of just 24 years old. He was neither a politician nor a soldier, but he felt he could not resign himself to being a slave to terror.

Within him burned a flame of rebellion, a spirit that drove him to fight to restore to his homeland the colors that had been stolen from it. That day, the streets of Prague were filled with voices and flags.

One hundred thousand people marched with flowers, shouting “Down with Hitler!” and “For a free Republic!” In the midst of that crowd stood Opletal, young and determined, with no aspirations of heroism, only the desire for a dignified future for his country.

Near Wenceslas Square, the repression was felt. German soldiers fired on the demonstrators, and Opletal was wounded. Taken to the hospital in Charles Square, he fought for several days against the severity of his injuries, until death claimed him on November 11th.

His sacrifice, far from extinguishing the protest, transformed it into a symbol. His funeral became a massive demonstration.

The regime responded with brutality on November 17: nine students were killed, more than twelve hundred were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and the universities were closed.

But the seed had already been sown. The International Union of Students perpetuated that date as a day of struggle against injustice and violence, remembering that Jan Opletal and his comrades then became eternal emblems of youth resistance.