International Students Day

Three years ago a Czech University student was tortured to death by the Nazis. The protest meeting called by fellow undergraduates was broken up by German soldiers. One hundred and sixty students were shot in reprisal, and the universities of Czechoslovakia were closed. To the peoples of a world still at peace it was merely an unfortunate incident in a far-away land, but to the Czechs it was the end of freedom, the extinction of the hope which lies in the growth of an educated and enlightened generation.

Tomorrow college students in every one of the United Nations will commemorate the Czech Student Massacre. Last year's anniversary saw sporadic demonstrations in England and Canada. Students who marched through the Arc de Triomphe were met by Nazi rifle fire. The United States was worrying about convoys. But tomorrow students in all the remaining free nations gather together pledged to fight for, and to attain, a world in which freedom of inquiry may again be a property of all. The systematic attack on education and liberal minds has been a steady auxiliary of Fascism's progress, and the Axis will have been stopped only when free colleges may once more open their doors in every nation.

Tomorrow Harvard students have a chance to join in this pledge by participating in the ceremonies. Next year they will be called upon for more concrete sacrifices, but in the interim they may well demonstrate their adherence to the cause for which they will fight.