Václav Havel
Václav Havel (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈɦavɛl] (
listen)), 5 October 1936–18 December 2011, was a Czech playwright, essayist, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia (1989–92). He then became the first President of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote more than twenty plays and many non-fiction works. Many of them were translated into multiple languages.
Václav Havel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 1st President of the Czech Republic | |
| In office 2 February 1993 – 2 February 2003 | |
| Prime Minister | Václav Klaus Josef Tošovský Miloš Zeman Vladimír Špidla |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Václav Klaus |
| 10th President of Czechoslovakia | |
| In office 29 December 1989 – 20 July 1992 | |
| Prime Minister | Marián Čalfa Jan Stráský |
| Preceded by | Gustáv Husák |
| Succeeded by | Jan Stráský (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 October 1936 Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) |
| Died | 18 December 2011 (aged 75) Hrádeček, Czech Republic |
| Political party | Civic Forum |
| Spouse(s) | Olga Šplíchalová (1964–1996, her death) Dagmar Veškrnová (1997–2011, his death) |
| Alma mater | Czech Technical University in Prague Faculty of Theatre |
| Profession | Playwright |
| Signature |  |
| Website | www.vaclavhavel.cz www.vaclavhavel-library.org |
Beginning in the 1960s, Havel mostly wrote about the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring, he became more and more active against the government. In 1977, he became famous internationally for his work on the human rights manifesto, Charter 77. He became known as a leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia. He was also sent to prison for these activities. The 1989, Havel became president during the "Velvet Revolution". As president, he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to an open democracy with several political parties. His country changed greatly during the thirteen years he was president. The Czech Republic separated from Slovakia, even though Havel was against separation. The Czech Republic also joined NATO and started negotiating membership in the European Union. The country became a member of the EU in 2004. He was one of the first people to sign the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism.[1]
Early life
Václav Havel was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on 5 October 1936. He grew up in a well-known and wealthy entrepreneurial and intellectual family. His family was active in culture and politics in Czechoslovakia from the 1920s to the 1940s. His father owned part of the suburb of Barrandov. This is the highest part of Prague. Havel's mother came from a well-known family. Her father was an ambassador and journalist. Havel completed his required education in 1951. However, the Communist government did not allow him to continue to study formally because of his bourgeois family background.
In the early 1950s, the young Havel entered a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant. He took evening classes at the same time and completed secondary education in 1954. None of the colleges or universities with humanities programs would accept Havel for political reasons. So, he chose to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University in Prague. He dropped out after two years.[2] In 1964, Havel married Olga Šplíchalová. His mother was against the marriage.[3]
Presidency
Havel was already leader of the Civic Forum, and on 29 December 1989, he became president. He left office after his second term as Czech president ended on 2 February 2003. Every member of the Federal Assembly voted to make him president. This was a surprising change because Havel had always said that he was not interested in politics. He and other dissidents had said that change should come from groups of people directly, not from the government.[4][5]
Czechoslovakia had free elections in 1990. Havel won and continued to be president. Havel wanted to keep the federation of the Czechs and the Slovaks together during the breakup of Czechoslovakia. He supported keeping the country together even though this was difficult and there was a lot of pressure. On 3 July 1992 the federal parliament did not elect Havel — the only candidate — because Slovak MPs did not support him. Havel resigned as president on 20 July after the Slovaks issued their Declaration of Independence. He stood for election as president of the new Czech Republic in 1993. He won and became president of this new, separate country.
Havel was quite popular throughout his career. However, some of his actions caused controversy and criticism. One of his first acts as a president was to pardon many people. He wanted to reduce the number of people in overcrowded prisons and release people who had been put in prison during the Communist era even though they were innocent. He did not trust the decisions of a corrupt court of the previous government. He thought the courts had been unfair to most people in prison.[6] Critics said that this amnesty caused more crime. In his memoir, To the Castle and Back, Havel wrote that most of the people he released had less than a year left to stay in prison. Statistics about this are not clear.
Havel said that the most important thing he did as president was breaking up the Warsaw Pact. Ending this group of countries was very complicated because the association was a deep part of how the countries worked. It took two years before the Soviet troops finally left Czechoslovakia completely.
Havel was very important to changing NATO. He helped change it from an anti-Warsaw Pact alliance to a group that includes former-Warsaw Pact members. Havel spoke very strongly for expanding of the military alliance into Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic.[7][8]
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Awards
He has received many awards, including:
- The Philadelphia Liberty Medal
- The freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award
- The Ambassador of Conscience Award
State awards
Works
Collections of poetry
- Čtyři rané básně
- Záchvěvy I & II, 1954
- První úpisy, 1955
- Prostory a časy (poesie), 1956
- Na okraji jara (cyklus básní), 1956
- Anticodes, (Antikódy)
Plays
- Motormorphosis 1960
- An Evening with the Family, 1960, (Rodinný večer)
- The Garden Party (Zahradní slavnost), 1963
- The Memorandum, 1965, (Vyrozumění)
- The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, 1968, (Ztížená možnost soustředění)
- Butterfly on the Antenna, 1968, (Motýl na anténě)
- Guardian Angel, 1968, (Strážný anděl)
- Conspirators, 1971, (Spiklenci)
- The Beggar's Opera, 1975, (Žebrácká opera)
- Unveiling, 1975, (Vernisáž)
- Audience, 1975, (Audience) - a Vanӗk play
- Mountain Hotel 1976, (Horský hotel)
- Protest, 1978, (Protest) - a Vanӗk play
- Mistake, 1983, (Chyba) - a Vanӗk play
- Largo desolato 1984, (Largo desolato)
- Temptation, 1985, (Pokoušení)
- Redevelopment, 1987, (Asanace)
- Tomorrow, 1988, (Zítra to spustíme)
- Leaving (Odcházení), 2007
Non-fiction books
- The Power of the Powerless (1985) [Includes 1978 titular essay.]
- Living in Truth (1986)
- Letters to Olga (Dopisy Olze) (1988)
- Disturbing the Peace (1991)
- Open Letters (1991)
- Summer Meditations (1992/93)
- Towards a Civil Society (Letní přemítání) (1994)
- The Art of the Impossible (1998)
- To the Castle and Back (2007)
Václav Havel Media
Václav Havel
The Memorandum by the Ljubljana Drama Theatre in 1969
Havel embraces the former Communist leader Alexander Dubček at a meeting in the Laterna Magika theatre in Prague on 24 November 1989
Havel, along with Bill Clinton, King Juan Carlos I of Spain and Simone Veil in 2000
In his post-presidency Havel focused on European affairs.
Václav Havel at Velvet Revolution Memorial (Národní Street, Prague) in November 2010
Memorial gathering of Václav Havel in Wenceslas Square in Prague on the day of his death on 18 December 2011
A large tapestry of Václav Havel with the caption Havel Forever was unveiled on Wenceslas Square on 17 November 2014, the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.
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References
- ↑ "Prague Declaration - Declaration Text". 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
- ↑ Vaclav Havel — Biography. The official website of Vaclav Havel. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
- ↑ David Remnick, "Exit Havel", The New Yorker 10 February 2003, accessed 29 April 2007., http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/vhavel.htm Archived 2008-01-04 at the Wayback Machine. Petri Liukkonen (author) & Ari Pesonen. Kuusankosken kaupunginkirjasto 2008. 4 December 2008.
- ↑ Stanger, Richard L. "Václav Havel: Heir to a Spiritual Legacy" Archived 2005-08-27 at the Wayback Machine. The Christian Century (Christian Century Foundation), 11 April 1990: 368–370. Rpt. in religion-online.org ("with permission"; "prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock"). ["Richard L. Stanger is senior minister at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn, New York."]
- ↑ Tucker, Scott. "Capitalism with a Human Face?". The Humanist (American Humanist Association), 1 May 1994, "Our Queer World". Rpt. in High Beam Encyclopedia (an online encyclopedia). Accessed 21 December 2007. ["Vaclav Havel's philosophy and musings."]
- ↑ Havel's New Year's address
- ↑ Václav Havel, "NATO: The Safeguard of Stability and Peace In the Euro-Atlantic Region", in European Security: Beginning a New Century, eds. General George A. Joulwan & Roger Weissinger-Baylon, papers from the XIIIth NATO Workshop: On Political-Military Decision Making, Warsaw, Poland, 19–23 June 1996.
- ↑ Žižek, Slavoj. "Attempts to Escape the Logic of Capitalism" Archived 2009-04-15 at the Wayback Machine. Book review of Vaclav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts, by John Keane. the London Review of Books, 28 October 1999. Retrieved 21 December 2007.
- ↑ "State Decorations". Retrieved 17 August 2010.