November 17: Day of Freedom and Democracy and International Student Day

On November 17th, the national holiday, also known as the ‘National Day of Freedom’ is celebrated in the Czech Republic. This day commemorates the demonstrations of students against the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 as well as events of 1989, where there was a memorial march to mark the 50th anniversary of the student revolt. The authorities tried to suppress the march which only led to an avalanche of popular protests in Czech and Slovak cities. Over the following days, the protests grew into non-violent strikes at first involving students and later all citizens of Czechoslovakia. Hence, the beginning of the Velvet Revolution.

There are no classes, nor office hours on this day.