Ijevan Branch of Yerevan State University

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS’ DAY!

bNovember 17th is the International Students’ Day, once again highlighting the importance of young people and especially students in our society.

The date commemorates the anniversary of the 1939 Nazi storming of the University of Prague after demonstrations against the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. The Nazis rounded up the students, murdered nine student leaders and sent over 1,200 students to concentration camps. They subsequently closed all Czech universities and colleges. The same day an anti-fascist student coalition was set up on the streets of Prague. In late 1939 the Nazi authorities in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia suppressed a demonstration in Prague held by students of the Medical Faculty of Charles University. The demonstration was held on 28 October to commemorate the anniversary of the independence of the Czechoslovak Republic (1918).

Two years later, in 1941, students from different European countries decided to mark November 17 as the International Students’ Day at the London International Student Council, as the fight against fascism.

Later in the second half of the 1980’s, Prague students began to celebrate that day as a day of independence. In 1989, November 17, a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia was launched.

Nowadays, November 17 is a day of symbolic consolidation of students that celebrate many countries, including Armenia.

Congratulations on your holiday, dear students, wishing you endless happiness, great achievements in education, life, in all your endeavors, in favor of our society and country, will and vigor to effectively fulfill your youthful desires…