After Jan Palach's death, Bohdan Mikolášek composed the song Silent, which reflected the feelings and moods of the people in the second half of January 1969. Milan Peer accompanied the song with film footage from the so-called Palach Week. A dying young man lying in the burns department of a plastic surgery clinic, a mother crying quietly over his grave in the Olšany cemeteries, hundreds of thousands of people laying flowers and wreaths in his coffin in silent pain. "Silence and people flowing down the street," Mikolášek sings in his song. The word "silence" took on a new meaning in the next twenty years, when Palach and his followers were spoken of only quietly and in whispers.