HUNDREDS of mourners came to Bratislava's Primatial Palace yesterday to bid farewell to politician and former dissident Ján Langoš, who died in a car accident last week shortly before he would have turned 50.
Langoš, the former Czechoslovak interior minister after the fall of communism, and later a Slovak MP, helped to build Slovakia's National Memory Institute, which he lead from 2003. He was known for his dedication in uncovering fascist and communist crimes in the country's past.
Along with hundreds of Langoš' friends, top state officials and international guests, former Czechoslovak President Václav Havel mourned Langoš' passing.
"A soothing energy shined from him. He took away people's fears of the world," Havel said of Langoš, describing his death as a major loss for Slovakia, the Hospodárske noviny wrote.
Former Czech Interior Minister Jan Ruml said that Langoš showed that "if people can decide
between good and evil they can change the world".
The ceremony ended with the playing of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" to bid farewell to Slovakia's "angel", as musician Marian Varga, one of Langoš's many friends, described him.
