On Saturday, July 5th 2014, at 6:30 PM, the Japanese Minister of Interior Mr. Yoshitato Sindo, and Ms. Věra Čáslavská, laid down a wreath by the small memorial on Václavské Square in Prague to honor the memory of Jan Palach. Minister Yoshitato Sindo is very interested in our history and values the bravery of citizens of former Czechoslovakia. He used this occasion to fulfill his wish to meet Mrs. Věra Čáslavská who is quite known among citizens of Japan, not only as a winner several gold Olympic medals (specifically on Olympic games in Tokyo 1964), but also as a symbol of struggle against Czechoslovakian Communist totalitarian regime and for her actions during anti-Communist revolution in 1989. The wreath laying act was a non-official part of communiqué announcing agreement between the Czech Republic and Japan about cooperation in areas of communication and information technologies, planned for Monday, July 7th. On Recognition Day of Slavonic missionaries Constantinus Philosophos (Cyril), and his brother Methodius (July 5th), and the day before we commemorate 599 years since burning at the stake of Mister Jan Hus (July 6th), we again have to remind ourselves the real meaning of truths for our history and our lives. It is really a shame that our real heroes are more honored in foreign countries than in the country where they were born, where they worked and for which they laid down their lives.
Jan Šinágl, 8.7.2014
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