Václav Havel
Encyclopedia
Václav Havel (ˈvaːtslaf ˈɦavɛl) (born 5 October 1936 in Czechoslovakia
) is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet
, dissident
and politician
. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia
(1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic
(1993–2003). He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. Havel has received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom
, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal
, the Order of Canada
, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award
, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award
and several other distinctions. He was also voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
.
Beginning in the 1960s, his work turned to focus on the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring
, he became increasingly active. In 1977, his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77
brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia; it also led to his imprisonment. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution
" launched Havel into the presidency. In this role he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to multi-party democracy. His thirteen years in office saw radical change in his nation, including its split with Slovakia
, which Havel opposed, its accession into NATO and start of the negotiations for membership in the European Union
, which was attained in 2004.
, on 5 October 1936. He grew up in a well-known and wealthy entrepreneurial and intellectual
family, which was closely linked to the cultural and political events in Czechoslovakia
from the 1920s to the 1940s. His father was the owner of the suburb Barrandov
which was located on the highest point of Prague and of Barrandov film studios
. Havel's mother came from a well known family; her father was an ambassador and well-known journalist. Because of Havel's bourgeois history, the Communist regime did not allow Havel to study formally after he had completed his required schooling in 1951. In the first part of the 1950s, the young Havel entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and simultaneously took evening classes; he completed his secondary education in 1954. For political reasons, he was not accepted into any post-secondary school with a humanities program; therefore, he opted to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University in Prague
but dropped out after two years. In 1964, Havel married proletarian Olga Šplíchalová
, much to the displeasure of his mother.
(1957–59), he worked as a stagehand
in Prague
(at the Theater On the Balustrade - Divadlo Na zábradlí) and studied drama
by correspondence at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
(DAMU). His first publicly performed full-length play, besides various vaudeville collaborations, was The Garden Party
(1963). Presented in a season of Theater of the Absurd, at the Balustrade, it won him international acclaim. It was soon followed by The Memorandum
, one of his best known plays, and the The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, all at the Balustrade. In 1968, The Memorandum
was also brought to The Public Theater in New York, which helped establish his reputation in the United States. The Public continued to produce his plays over the next years, although after 1968 his plays were banned in his own country, Havel was unable to leave Czechoslovakia to see any foreign performances.
, Havel provided a commentary on the events on Radio Free Czechoslovakia in Liberec
. Following the suppression of the Prague Spring
in 1968 he was banned from the theatre and became more politically active. He was forced to take a job in a brewery, an experience he wrote about in his play Audience. This play, along with two other "Vaněk" plays (so-called because of the recurring character Ferdinand Vaněk, a stand in for Havel), became distributed in samizdat
form across Czechoslovakia, and greatly added to Havel's reputation of being a leading revolutionary (several other Czech writers later wrote their own plays featuring Vaněk). This reputation was cemented with the publication of the Charter 77
manifesto
, written partially in response to the imprisonment of members of the Czech psychedelic
band The Plastic People of the Universe
. He also co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted
in 1979. His political activities resulted in multiple stays in prison, the longest being four years, and also subjected him to constant government surveillance and questioning. His longest stay in prison, from June 1979 to January 1984, is documented in Letters to Olga
, his late wife.
He was also famous for his essays, most particularly for his articulation of “Post-Totalitarianism” (Power of the Powerless), a term used to describe the modern social and political order that enabled people to "live within a lie." In this essay Havel also takes issue with the concept of the 'dissident' as such, arguing that it is mainly a prescription attached to certain practices that are not by their authors categorized as dissident behaviour: one becomes a dissident mainly through interpretation of others. A passionate supporter of non-violent resistance, a role in which he has been compared, by former US President Bill Clinton
, to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., he became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution
of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia.
His motto was "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate."
On 29 December 1989, while leader of the Civic Forum
, he became president by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly
. This was an ironic turn of fate for a man who had long insisted that he was uninterested in politics. He joined many dissidents of the period arguing that political change should happen through civic initiatives autonomous from the state, rather than through the state itself. He was awarded the Prize For Freedom
of the Liberal International
in 1990.
After the free elections of 1990 he retained the presidency. As one of the first things in office, he issued a wide-ranging amnesty releasing many prisoners. Despite increasing tensions, Havel supported the retention of the federation of the Czechs and the Slovaks during the breakup of Czechoslovakia
. On 3 July 1992 the federal parliament did not elect Havel — the only candidate — due to a lack of support from Slovak MPs. The largest party, the Civic Democratic Party, let it be known it would not support any other candidate. After the Slovaks issued their Declaration of Independence, he resigned as president on 20 July, saying he would not preside over the country's breakup.
However, when the Czech Republic was created, he stood for election as president on 26 January 1993, and won. Unlike in Czechoslovakia, he was not the Czech Republic's chief executive. However, owing to his prestige, he still commanded a good deal of moral authority.
Although Havel has been quite popular throughout his career, his popularity abroad surpassed his popularity at home, and he was no stranger to controversy and criticism. An extensive general pardon, one of his first acts as a president, was an attempt to both lessen the pressure in overcrowded prisons and release those who may have been falsely imprisoned during the Communist era. He had felt that decisions of a corrupt court of the previous regime could not be trusted, and that most in prison had not been fairly tried. Critics claimed that this amnesty raised the crime rate. According to Havel's memoir To the Castle and Back, most of those released had less than a year of their sentence to run. Statistics have not lent clear support to either claim.
In an interview with Karel Hvížďala (also included in To the Castle and Back), Havel stated that he felt his most important accomplishment as president was the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
. This proved quite complicated, as the infrastructure created by the pact was so ingrained in the workings of the countries involved and indeed in their general consciousness. It took two years before the Soviet troops finally fully withdrew from Czechoslovakia.
Following a legal dispute with his sister-in-law, Havel decided to sell his 50% stake in the Lucerna Palace on Wenceslas Square
, a legendary dance hall built by his grandfather Václav Havel. In a transaction arranged by Marián Čalfa
, Havel sold the estate to Václav Junek
, a former communist spy
in France and leader of soon-to-be-bankrupt conglomerate
Chemapol Group, who later openly admitted he bribed
politicians of Czech Social Democratic Party
.
In December 1996 the chain smoking
Havel was diagnosed as having lung cancer
. The disease reappeared two years later. He later quit smoking. In 1996, Olga
, beloved by the Czech people and his wife of 32 years died of cancer. Less than a year later Havel remarried, to actress Dagmar Veškrnová.
The former political prisoner was instrumental in enabling the transition of NATO from being an anti-Warsaw Pact
alliance to its present inclusion of former-Warsaw Pact members, like the Czech Republic. Havel advocated vigorously for the expansion of the military alliance into Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic.
Havel was re-elected president in 1998. He had to undergo a colostomy
in Innsbruck
when his colon ruptured while on holiday in Austria. Havel left office after his second term as Czech president ended on 2 February 2003; Václav Klaus
, one of his greatest political opponents, was elected his successor on 28 February 2003. Margaret Thatcher
writes of the two men in her foreign policy treatise, Statecraft, reserving greater respect for Havel, whose dedication to democracy and defying the Communists earned her admiration.
of the United States Library of Congress
, where he continued his research in human rights. In November and December 2006, Havel spent eight weeks as a visiting artist in residence
at Columbia University
. The stay was sponsored by the Columbia Arts Initiative and featured "performances, and panels center[ing] on his life and ideas", including a public "conversation" with former U.S. President Bill Clinton
. Concurrently, the Untitled Theater Company #61 launched a Havel Festival, the first complete festival of his plays in various venues throughout New York City, including The Brick Theater
and the Ohio Theatre, in celebration of his 70th birthday.
Havel's memoir of his experience as President, To the Castle and Back, was published in May 2007. The book mixes an interview in the style of Disturbing the Peace with actual memoranda he sent to his staff with modern diary entries and recollections.
On 4 August 2007, Havel met with members of the Belarus Free Theatre
at his summer cottage in the Czech Republic in a show of his continuing support, which has been instrumental in the theatre's attaining international recognition and membership in the European Theatrical Convention.
Havel's first new play in over 18 years, Leaving (Odcházení), was published in November 2007, and was to have had its world premiere in June 2008 at the Prague theater Divadlo na Vinohradech
, but the theater withdrew it in December. The play instead premiered on 22 May 2008 at the Archa Theatre to standing ovations. Havel based the play on King Lear
, by William Shakespeare
, and on The Cherry Orchard
, by Anton Chekhov
; "Chancellor Vilém Rieger is the central character of Leaving, who faces a crisis after being removed from political power." The play had its English language
premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre
in London and its American premiere at The Wilma Theater
in Philadelphia. Havel subsequently directed a film version of the play, which premiered in the Czech Republic on March 22, 2011.
Other new works include the short sketch Pět Tet, a modern sequel to Unveiling, and The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, which was premiered in Brno at Theatre Goose on a String and had its English language premiere in June 2011 at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York, in a production from Untitled Theater Company #61.
In 2008 Havel became Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation
, an NGO designed to monitor tolerance
in Europe
and to prepare practical recommendations on fighting anti-Semitism
, racism
and xenophobia
on the continent.
Havel met with U. S. President Barack Obama
at the European Union
(EU) and United States (US) summit in Prague on 5 April 2009. He had written Obama a letter inviting the president to come to Prague.
Havel is the chair of the International Council of the Human Rights Foundation
, and a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
.
. In his acceptance speech, he said: "The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world." In 1997, he was the recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
.
In 2002, he was the third recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award
presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation
. In 2003, he was awarded the International Gandhi Peace Prize
, named after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi by the government of India
for his outstanding contribution towards world peace and upholding human rights in most difficult situations through Gandhian means. In 2003, Havel was the inaugural recipient of Amnesty International
's Ambassador of Conscience Award
for his work in promoting human rights
. In 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
. In January 2008, the Europe-based A Different View cited Havel to be one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy. Other champions mentioned were Nelson Mandela
, Lech Wałęsa
, and Corazon Aquino
. As a former Czech President
, Havel is a member of the Club of Madrid
. In 2009 he was awarded the Quadriga Award
, but decided to return it in 2011 following the announcement of Vladimir Putin
as one of the 2011 award recipients.
Havel has also received multiple honorary doctorates from various universities.
In 1993, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
.
Media interviews with Václav Havel
Books (Biographies)
|-
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
) is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
(1989–92) and the first President of the Czech Republic
President of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
(1993–2003). He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. Havel has received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal
Philadelphia Liberty Medal
The Liberty Medal is an annual award administered by the National Constitution Center of the United States to recognize leadership in the pursuit of freedom. It was originally founded by The Philadelphia Foundation. In 2006 an agreement was made with the National Constitution Center that the NCC...
, the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award
Four Freedoms Award
The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to those men and women who have "demonstrated" an achievement to the principles lined out in the Four freedoms speech president Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave to the US Congress on 6 January 1941...
, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award
Ambassador of Conscience Award
The Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International's most prestigious human rights award. It is given annually to individuals who show exceptional leadership in the fight to protect and promote human rights and human conscience...
and several other distinctions. He was also voted 4th in Prospect magazine's 2005 global poll of the world's top 100 intellectuals. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism
The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism , which was signed on 3 June 2008, was a declaration signed by prominent European politicians, former political prisoners and historians, including past signatories of Charter 77 such as Václav Havel, which called for condemnation of and...
.
Beginning in the 1960s, his work turned to focus on the politics of Czechoslovakia. After the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
, he became increasingly active. In 1977, his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
brought him international fame as the leader of the opposition in Czechoslovakia; it also led to his imprisonment. The 1989 "Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
" launched Havel into the presidency. In this role he led Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic to multi-party democracy. His thirteen years in office saw radical change in his nation, including its split with Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, which Havel opposed, its accession into NATO and start of the negotiations for membership in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, which was attained in 2004.
Biography
Václav Havel was born in PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, on 5 October 1936. He grew up in a well-known and wealthy entrepreneurial and intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
family, which was closely linked to the cultural and political events in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
from the 1920s to the 1940s. His father was the owner of the suburb Barrandov
Barrandov Terraces
Barrandov Terraces is a complex of buildings in the southern part of Prague, Czech Republic. It is dominated by the functional view restaurant Terraces designed by architect Max Urban . Barrandov Terraces are a part of the project of Václav M. Havel for the construction of a neighbourhood on the...
which was located on the highest point of Prague and of Barrandov film studios
Barrandov Studios
Barrandov Studios is a famous set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe.Several of the movies filmed there won Academy Awards...
. Havel's mother came from a well known family; her father was an ambassador and well-known journalist. Because of Havel's bourgeois history, the Communist regime did not allow Havel to study formally after he had completed his required schooling in 1951. In the first part of the 1950s, the young Havel entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and simultaneously took evening classes; he completed his secondary education in 1954. For political reasons, he was not accepted into any post-secondary school with a humanities program; therefore, he opted to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....
but dropped out after two years. In 1964, Havel married proletarian Olga Šplíchalová
Olga Havlová
Olga Havlová, née Šplíchalová , was the first wife of Václav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic....
, much to the displeasure of his mother.
Early theater career
The intellectual tradition of his family compelled Václav Havel to pursue the humanitarian values of Czech culture. After military serviceMilitary service
Military service, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft . Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen...
(1957–59), he worked as a stagehand
Stagehand
A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their duties include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production.-Types of stagehand:...
in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
(at the Theater On the Balustrade - Divadlo Na zábradlí) and studied drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
by correspondence at the Theater Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague is a university level school of music, dance, drama, film, TV and multi-media studies.- Faculties :*Film and TV School - FAMU*Music Faculty - HAMU*Theatre Faculty - DAMU-Notable alumni:...
(DAMU). His first publicly performed full-length play, besides various vaudeville collaborations, was The Garden Party
The Garden Party (play)
The Garden Party is a play by Václav Havel.- Plot :The protagonist is Hugo Pludek, who is an average person from a middle-class Czech family. His parents are worried about his future so they arrange an appointment for him with the influential Mr...
(1963). Presented in a season of Theater of the Absurd, at the Balustrade, it won him international acclaim. It was soon followed by The Memorandum
The Memorandum
-Plot:Josef Gross, a director of an unnamed organization, receives a memorandum written in Ptydepe, a constructed language, about an audit. He finds out that Ptydepe was created to get rid of similarities between words, such as fox and box, and emotional connexions. He tries to get someone to...
, one of his best known plays, and the The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, all at the Balustrade. In 1968, The Memorandum
The Memorandum
-Plot:Josef Gross, a director of an unnamed organization, receives a memorandum written in Ptydepe, a constructed language, about an audit. He finds out that Ptydepe was created to get rid of similarities between words, such as fox and box, and emotional connexions. He tries to get someone to...
was also brought to The Public Theater in New York, which helped establish his reputation in the United States. The Public continued to produce his plays over the next years, although after 1968 his plays were banned in his own country, Havel was unable to leave Czechoslovakia to see any foreign performances.
Dissident
During the first week of the Warsaw Pact invasion of CzechoslovakiaWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...
, Havel provided a commentary on the events on Radio Free Czechoslovakia in Liberec
Liberec
Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic....
. Following the suppression of the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
in 1968 he was banned from the theatre and became more politically active. He was forced to take a job in a brewery, an experience he wrote about in his play Audience. This play, along with two other "Vaněk" plays (so-called because of the recurring character Ferdinand Vaněk, a stand in for Havel), became distributed in samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
form across Czechoslovakia, and greatly added to Havel's reputation of being a leading revolutionary (several other Czech writers later wrote their own plays featuring Vaněk). This reputation was cemented with the publication of the Charter 77
Charter 77
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
, written partially in response to the imprisonment of members of the Czech psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
band The Plastic People of the Universe
The Plastic People of the Universe
The Plastic People of the Universe is a rock band from Prague, Czech Republic. It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture . This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests...
. He also co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted
Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted
The Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted was a Czechoslovak dissident organization founded largely by Charter 77 signatories. VONS was founded on April 27, 1978.-Founding and Political Aims:...
in 1979. His political activities resulted in multiple stays in prison, the longest being four years, and also subjected him to constant government surveillance and questioning. His longest stay in prison, from June 1979 to January 1984, is documented in Letters to Olga
Letters to Olga
Letters to Olga is a book of letters by Václav Havel to his wife Olga Havlová during his stay in prison from June 1979 to September 1982. His actual stay lasted until January 1983, when he came down with high fever, was sent into a hospital, and then released....
, his late wife.
He was also famous for his essays, most particularly for his articulation of “Post-Totalitarianism” (Power of the Powerless), a term used to describe the modern social and political order that enabled people to "live within a lie." In this essay Havel also takes issue with the concept of the 'dissident' as such, arguing that it is mainly a prescription attached to certain practices that are not by their authors categorized as dissident behaviour: one becomes a dissident mainly through interpretation of others. A passionate supporter of non-violent resistance, a role in which he has been compared, by former US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., he became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution
Velvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
of 1989, the bloodless end to communism in Czechoslovakia.
His motto was "Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate."
Presidency
Civic Forum
The Civic Forum was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989...
, he became president by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly
Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia
The Federal Assembly was the name of Czechoslovakia's federal parliament from January 1, 1969 to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on December 31, 1992...
. This was an ironic turn of fate for a man who had long insisted that he was uninterested in politics. He joined many dissidents of the period arguing that political change should happen through civic initiatives autonomous from the state, rather than through the state itself. He was awarded the Prize For Freedom
Prize For Freedom
The Prize For Freedom is an annual prize presented by the Liberal International since 1985. With the prize the organization honors an individual which has made an outstanding contribution to human rights and political freedoms.-Awards:* 1985 - Raúl Alfonsín...
of the Liberal International
Liberal International
Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...
in 1990.
After the free elections of 1990 he retained the presidency. As one of the first things in office, he issued a wide-ranging amnesty releasing many prisoners. Despite increasing tensions, Havel supported the retention of the federation of the Czechs and the Slovaks during the breakup of Czechoslovakia
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became...
. On 3 July 1992 the federal parliament did not elect Havel — the only candidate — due to a lack of support from Slovak MPs. The largest party, the Civic Democratic Party, let it be known it would not support any other candidate. After the Slovaks issued their Declaration of Independence, he resigned as president on 20 July, saying he would not preside over the country's breakup.
However, when the Czech Republic was created, he stood for election as president on 26 January 1993, and won. Unlike in Czechoslovakia, he was not the Czech Republic's chief executive. However, owing to his prestige, he still commanded a good deal of moral authority.
Although Havel has been quite popular throughout his career, his popularity abroad surpassed his popularity at home, and he was no stranger to controversy and criticism. An extensive general pardon, one of his first acts as a president, was an attempt to both lessen the pressure in overcrowded prisons and release those who may have been falsely imprisoned during the Communist era. He had felt that decisions of a corrupt court of the previous regime could not be trusted, and that most in prison had not been fairly tried. Critics claimed that this amnesty raised the crime rate. According to Havel's memoir To the Castle and Back, most of those released had less than a year of their sentence to run. Statistics have not lent clear support to either claim.
In an interview with Karel Hvížďala (also included in To the Castle and Back), Havel stated that he felt his most important accomplishment as president was the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
. This proved quite complicated, as the infrastructure created by the pact was so ingrained in the workings of the countries involved and indeed in their general consciousness. It took two years before the Soviet troops finally fully withdrew from Czechoslovakia.
Following a legal dispute with his sister-in-law, Havel decided to sell his 50% stake in the Lucerna Palace on Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square
Wenceslas Square is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town of Prague, Czech Republic. Many historical events occurred there, and it is a traditional setting for demonstrations, celebrations, and other public gatherings...
, a legendary dance hall built by his grandfather Václav Havel. In a transaction arranged by Marián Čalfa
Marián Calfa
Marián Čalfa was a Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia during and after the Velvet Revolution, as well as acting President for 19 days, and was a key facilitator of smooth power transfer from the Communists to a new democratic representation.An ethnic Slovak, he was a member of KSČ, the Communist...
, Havel sold the estate to Václav Junek
Václav Junek
Václav Junek is a Czech businessman.Junek was a chairman of bankrupt conglomerate Chemapol Group.Junek's company Chemapol Reality purchased from Václav Havel his 50 percent stake in a legendary dance-hall Lucerna Palace on Wenceslas Square for CZK 200 mio. It sold it two years later to Dagmar...
, a former communist spy
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
in France and leader of soon-to-be-bankrupt conglomerate
Conglomerate (company)
A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate structure , usually involving a parent company and several subsidiaries. Often, a conglomerate is a multi-industry company...
Chemapol Group, who later openly admitted he bribed
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
politicians of Czech Social Democratic Party
Czech Social Democratic Party
The Czech Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Czech Republic.-History:The Social Democratic Czechoslavonic party in Austria was founded on 7 April 1878 in Austria-Hungary representing the Kingdom of Bohemia in the Austrian parliament...
.
In December 1996 the chain smoking
Chain smoking
Chain smoking is the practice of lighting a new cigarette for personal consumption immediately after one that is finished, sometimes using the finished cigarette to light the next one. It is a common form of addiction.-Causes:...
Havel was diagnosed as having lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
. The disease reappeared two years later. He later quit smoking. In 1996, Olga
Olga Havlová
Olga Havlová, née Šplíchalová , was the first wife of Václav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic....
, beloved by the Czech people and his wife of 32 years died of cancer. Less than a year later Havel remarried, to actress Dagmar Veškrnová.
The former political prisoner was instrumental in enabling the transition of NATO from being an anti-Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
alliance to its present inclusion of former-Warsaw Pact members, like the Czech Republic. Havel advocated vigorously for the expansion of the military alliance into Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic.
Havel was re-elected president in 1998. He had to undergo a colostomy
Colostomy
A colostomy is a surgical procedure in which a stoma is formed by drawing the healthy end of the large intestine or colon through an incision in the anterior abdominal wall and suturing it into place. This opening, in conjunction with the attached stoma appliance, provides an alternative channel...
in Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
when his colon ruptured while on holiday in Austria. Havel left office after his second term as Czech president ended on 2 February 2003; Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...
, one of his greatest political opponents, was elected his successor on 28 February 2003. Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
writes of the two men in her foreign policy treatise, Statecraft, reserving greater respect for Havel, whose dedication to democracy and defying the Communists earned her admiration.
Post-presidential career
Since 1997, Havel has hosted a conference entitled Forum 2000. In 2005, the former President occupied the Kluge Chair for Modern Culture at the John W. Kluge CenterJohn W. Kluge Center
The John W. Kluge Center occupies study and meeting spaces within the Library of Congress' restored Thomas Jefferson Building. The Center brings together a group of 21 international scholars, the Kluge Scholars' Council, to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the rich resources of the...
of the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, where he continued his research in human rights. In November and December 2006, Havel spent eight weeks as a visiting artist in residence
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. The stay was sponsored by the Columbia Arts Initiative and featured "performances, and panels center[ing] on his life and ideas", including a public "conversation" with former U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Concurrently, the Untitled Theater Company #61 launched a Havel Festival, the first complete festival of his plays in various venues throughout New York City, including The Brick Theater
The Brick Theater
The Brick Theater is a 70-seat state-of-the-art theater located at 575 Metropolitan Ave near the corner of Lorimer St in Williamsburg, Brooklyn...
and the Ohio Theatre, in celebration of his 70th birthday.
Havel's memoir of his experience as President, To the Castle and Back, was published in May 2007. The book mixes an interview in the style of Disturbing the Peace with actual memoranda he sent to his staff with modern diary entries and recollections.
On 4 August 2007, Havel met with members of the Belarus Free Theatre
Belarus Free Theatre
Belarus Free Theatre is a Belarusian underground theatre group.Under the current political system the Belarus Free Theatre has no official registration, no premises, nor any other facilities...
at his summer cottage in the Czech Republic in a show of his continuing support, which has been instrumental in the theatre's attaining international recognition and membership in the European Theatrical Convention.
Havel's first new play in over 18 years, Leaving (Odcházení), was published in November 2007, and was to have had its world premiere in June 2008 at the Prague theater Divadlo na Vinohradech
Vinohrady Theatre
Vinohrady Theatre is a theatre in Vinohrady, Prague.Construction began on February 27, 1905. It served as the Theatre of the Czechoslovak Army from autumn 1950 to January 1966). It contains a curtain painted by Vladimír Županský depicting a naked muse....
, but the theater withdrew it in December. The play instead premiered on 22 May 2008 at the Archa Theatre to standing ovations. Havel based the play on King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, and on The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard
The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...
, by Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
; "Chancellor Vilém Rieger is the central character of Leaving, who faces a crisis after being removed from political power." The play had its English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
in London and its American premiere at The Wilma Theater
The Wilma Theater
The Wilma Theater is a 501 non-profit theater company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:It was founded in 1973 as the Wilma Project to encourage theatrical productions of original material and the development of community artists. In 1979, Blanka Zizka and Jiri Zizka of former...
in Philadelphia. Havel subsequently directed a film version of the play, which premiered in the Czech Republic on March 22, 2011.
Other new works include the short sketch Pět Tet, a modern sequel to Unveiling, and The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig, which was premiered in Brno at Theatre Goose on a String and had its English language premiere in June 2011 at the 3LD Art & Technology Center in New York, in a production from Untitled Theater Company #61.
In 2008 Havel became Member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation
European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation
The European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation was established in Paris, France on October 7, 2008 to monitor tolerance in Europe...
, an NGO designed to monitor tolerance
Toleration
Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and to prepare practical recommendations on fighting anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
, racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
on the continent.
Havel met with U. S. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
at the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) and United States (US) summit in Prague on 5 April 2009. He had written Obama a letter inviting the president to come to Prague.
Havel is the chair of the International Council of the Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights Foundation
The Human Rights Foundation is a non-profit organization whose stated mission "is to ensure that freedom is both preserved and promoted" in the Americas. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in 2005 by Thor Halvorssen...
, and a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit educational organization in the United States, established as a result of an Act of Congress in 1993 with the purpose to commemorate "the deaths of over 100,000,000 victims in an unprecedented imperial communist holocaust"...
.
Awards
On 4 July 1994, Václav Havel was awarded the Philadelphia Liberty MedalPhiladelphia Liberty Medal
The Liberty Medal is an annual award administered by the National Constitution Center of the United States to recognize leadership in the pursuit of freedom. It was originally founded by The Philadelphia Foundation. In 2006 an agreement was made with the National Constitution Center that the NCC...
. In his acceptance speech, he said: "The idea of human rights and freedoms must be an integral part of any meaningful world order. Yet I think it must be anchored in a different place, and in a different way, than has been the case so far. If it is to be more than just a slogan mocked by half the world, it cannot be expressed in the language of departing era, and it must not be mere froth floating on the subsiding waters of faith in a purely scientific relationship to the world." In 1997, he was the recipient of the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca
The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca is an international literary award.-Origins and operations:It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca to continue the work of her husband, publishing magnate Cino Del Duca .Designed to recognize and reward an author whose work constitutes, in a...
.
In 2002, he was the third recipient of the Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award
Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award
The Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award is given annually to people who have dedicated their lives to public service. It was established in 2000 by the Prague Society for International Cooperation and the Global Panel Foundation and is named in honor of the Prague Society's President Marc S....
presented by the Prague Society for International Cooperation
Prague Society for International Cooperation
The Prague Society for International Cooperation is an organization dedicated to business, politics and academia in Central Europe. A rigorous agenda is achieved through transparent networking, off-the-record dialogues and numerous international functions in order to develop a new generation of...
. In 2003, he was awarded the International Gandhi Peace Prize
Gandhi Peace Prize
The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded annually by the Government of India.As a tribute to the ideals espoused by Gandhi, the Government of India launched the International Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma...
, named after Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi by the government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
for his outstanding contribution towards world peace and upholding human rights in most difficult situations through Gandhian means. In 2003, Havel was the inaugural recipient of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's Ambassador of Conscience Award
Ambassador of Conscience Award
The Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International's most prestigious human rights award. It is given annually to individuals who show exceptional leadership in the fight to protect and promote human rights and human conscience...
for his work in promoting human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. In 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
. In January 2008, the Europe-based A Different View cited Havel to be one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy. Other champions mentioned were Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
, and Corazon Aquino
Corazon Aquino
Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines and the first woman to hold that office in Philippine history. She is best remembered for leading the 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled Ferdinand Marcos and restored democracy in the Philippines...
. As a former Czech President
President of the Czech Republic
The President of the Czech Republic is the head of state of the Czech Republic. Unlike his counterparts in Austria and Hungary, who are generally considered figureheads, the Czech President has a considerable role in political affairs...
, Havel is a member of the Club of Madrid
Club of Madrid
The Club de Madrid is an independent non-profit organization created to promote democracy and change in the international community. Composed of 80 former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 56 countries, the Club de Madrid is the world’s largest forum of former Heads of State and Government.Among...
. In 2009 he was awarded the Quadriga Award
Quadriga (award)
Quadriga is an annual German award sponsored by Netzwerk Quadriga gGmbH, a non-profit organization based in Berlin. The award recognizes four people or groups for their commitment to innovation, renewal, and a pioneering spirit through political, economic, and cultural activities.The award consists...
, but decided to return it in 2011 following the announcement of Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...
as one of the 2011 award recipients.
Havel has also received multiple honorary doctorates from various universities.
In 1993, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
.
State awards
| Country | Awards | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina |
Order of the Liberator San Martin Collar | 09/1996 | Buenos Aires |
 Austria |
Decoration for Science and Art | 11/2005 | Vienna |
 Brazil |
Order of the Southern Cross Order of the Southern Cross The National Order of the Southern Cross is a Brazilian order of chivalry founded by Emperor Pedro I on 1 December 1822. This order was intended to commemorate the independence of Brazil and the coronation of Pedro I... Grand Collar Order of Rio Branco Grand Cross |
10/1990 09/1996 |
Prague Brasília |
 Canada |
Order of Canada Order of Canada The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit... Honorary Companion |
03/2004 | Prague |
 Czech Republic |
Order of the White Lion Order of the White Lion The Order of the White Lion is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners.... 1st Class (Civil Division) with Collar Chain Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk 1st Class |
10/2003 | Prague |
 Estonia |
Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana was instituted in 1995 to honour the independence of the Estonian state. The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana is bestowed upon the President of the Republic. Presidents of the Republic who have ceased to hold office shall keep the Order of the Cross of... The Collar of the Cross |
04/1996 | Tallinn |
 Early Modern France |
Légion d'honneur Légion d'honneur The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802... Grand Cross Order of Arts and Letters Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963... Commander |
03/1990 02/2001 |
Paris |
 Georgia (country) |
Saint George's Victory Order | 10/2011 | Prague |
 Germany |
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Special class of the Grand Cross | 05/2000 | Berlin |
 Hungary |
Order of Merit of Hungary Grand Cross with Chain | 09/2001 | Prague |
 India |
Gandhi Peace Prize Gandhi Peace Prize The International Gandhi Peace Prize, named after Mahatma Gandhi, is awarded annually by the Government of India.As a tribute to the ideals espoused by Gandhi, the Government of India launched the International Gandhi Peace Prize in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma... |
08/2003 | Delhi |
 Italy |
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was founded as the senior order of knighthood by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi in 1951... Grand Cross with Cordon |
04/2002 | Rome |
 Jordan |
Order of Hussein ibn' Ali Order of the Star of Jordan The Order of the Star of Jordan or The Order of Hussein ibn Ali is an award and military decoration of the sovereign state of Jordan and is awarded for military or civil merit. It was founded in honour of his father, by King Abdullah I on 22 June 1949, King Abdullah ibn Hussain... Collar |
09/1997 | Amman |
 Latvia |
Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars is order awarded for merits in service for Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of founding of Latvia. Its motto is "Per aspera ad astra"... Commander Grand Cross with Chain |
08/1999 | Prague |
 Lithuania |
Order of Vytautas the Great Order of Vytautas the Great The Order of Vytautas the Great is the Lithuanian Presidential Award. It may be conferred on the heads of Lithuania and foreign states, as well as their citizens, for distinguished services to the State of Lithuania.-History:... Grand Cross |
09/1999 | Prague |
 Poland |
Order of the White Eagle | 10/1993 | Warsaw |
 Portugal |
Order of Liberty Order of Liberty The Order of Liberty, or Freedom, is a Portuguese honorific civil order that distinguishes relevant services to the cause of democracy and freedom, in the defense of the values of civilization and human dignification... Grand Collar |
12/1990 | Lisbon |
| Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon | 11/2004 | Taipei | |
 Slovakia |
Order of the White Double Cross | 01/2003 | Bratislava |
 Slovenia |
The Golden honorary Medal of Freedom | 11/1993 | Ljubljana |
 Spain |
Order of Isabella the Catholic Grand Cross with Collar | 07/1995 | Prague |
 Turkey |
National Decoration of Republic of Turkey | 10/2000 | Ankara |
 Ukraine |
Order of Yaroslav the Wise | 10/2006 | Prague |
 United Kingdom |
Order of the Bath Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath... Knight Grand Cross(Civil Division) |
03/1996 | Prague |
 United States |
Presidential Medal of Freedom Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States... |
07/2003 | Washington D.C. |
 Uruguay |
Medal of the Republic | 09/1996 | Montevideo |
Works
Collections of poetry
- Čtyři rané básně (Four Early Poems)
- Záchvěvy I & II, 1954 (Quivers I & II)
- První úpisy, 1955 (First promissory notes)
- Prostory a časy, 1956 (Spaces and times, poetry)
- Na okraji jara (cyklus básní), 1956 (At the edge of spring (poetry cycle))
- AntikódyAntikódyAntikódy is a book of experimental poems and calligrammes by Václav Havel. Most of the poems are based on visual effect on the reader...
, 1964 (Anticodes)
Plays
- Motormorphosis 1960
- Hitchhiking (Autostop) 1960
- An Evening with the Family, 1960, (Rodinný večer)
- The Garden PartyThe Garden Party (play)The Garden Party is a play by Václav Havel.- Plot :The protagonist is Hugo Pludek, who is an average person from a middle-class Czech family. His parents are worried about his future so they arrange an appointment for him with the influential Mr...
(Zahradní slavnost), 1963 - The MemorandumThe Memorandum-Plot:Josef Gross, a director of an unnamed organization, receives a memorandum written in Ptydepe, a constructed language, about an audit. He finds out that Ptydepe was created to get rid of similarities between words, such as fox and box, and emotional connexions. He tries to get someone to...
, 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 desolatoLargo desolatoLargo desolato is a play by Václav Havel. It is about a political writer, Leopold Nettles , who fears being sent back into prison. During the play, Leopold faces extreme pressure from his wife, two members of what appears to be the secret police, among others...
1984, (Largo desolato) - Temptation, 1985, (Pokoušení)
- Redevelopment, 1987, (Asanace)
- Tomorrow, 1988, (Zítra to spustíme)
- LeavingLeaving (play)Leaving is a 2007 tragicomedic play by Václav Havel. Although Havel has had an extensive career as a playwright, Leaving is his first play in over twenty years. The play premiered at Archa Theatre in Prague on May 22, 2008. The play is composed of five acts and requires eleven men, six women, and...
(Odcházení), 2007 - Dozens of Cousins (Pět Tet), 2009 - a short sketch/sequel to Unveiling
- The Pig, or Václav Havel's Hunt for a Pig (Prase), 2009 - based on a text from 1987, adapted by Valdímir Morávek in 2009
Non-fiction books
- The Power of the Powerless (1985) [Includes 1978 titular essay.]
- Living in Truth (1986)
- Letters to OlgaLetters to OlgaLetters to Olga is a book of letters by Václav Havel to his wife Olga Havlová during his stay in prison from June 1979 to September 1982. His actual stay lasted until January 1983, when he came down with high fever, was sent into a hospital, and then released....
(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)
Cultural allusions and interests
- Havel was a major supporter of The Plastic People of the UniverseThe Plastic People of the UniverseThe Plastic People of the Universe is a rock band from Prague, Czech Republic. It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture . This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests...
, becoming a close friend of its members, such as its leader Milan HlavsaMilan HlavsaMilan "Mejla" Hlavsa was the founder, chief songwriter, and original bassist of the Czech band Plastic People of the Universe, which was part of the inspiration for the anti-establishment movement Charter 77....
, its manager Ivan Martin JirousIvan Martin JirousIvan Martin Jirous was a Czech poet, best known for being the artistic director of the Czech psychedelic rock group The Plastic People of the Universe and later one of the organizers of the Czech underground during the communist regime...
and guitarist/vocalist Paul Wilson (who later became Havel's English translator and biographer) and a great fan of the rock band The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
, sharing mutual respect with the principal singer-songwriter Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, and is also a lifelong Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
fan. - Havel is also a great supporter and fan of jazz and frequented such Prague clubs as Radost FX and the Reduta Jazz Club, where President Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
played the saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
when Havel brought him there. - The period involving Havel's role in the Velvet RevolutionVelvet RevolutionThe Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
and his ascendancy to the presidency is dramatized in part in the play Rock 'n' RollRock 'n' Roll (play)Rock 'n' Roll is a play by British playwright Tom Stoppard that premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2006.-Plot summary:The play is concerned with the significance of rock and roll in the emergence of the socialist movement in Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia between the Prague Spring of...
, by Czech-born English playwright Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
. One of the characters in the play is called Ferdinand, in honor of Ferdinand Vaněk, the protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of three of Havel's plays and a Havel stand-in. - In 1996, due to his contributions to the arts, he was honorably mentioned in the rock opera RentRent (musical)Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
during the song La Vie BohemeLa Vie Boheme"La Vie Bohème" is a song, which is broken into two parts , in the musical Rent. The song is a celebration of bohemianism, especially the type present in the 1980s Alphabet City, Manhattan, and begins with a mocking of the character Benny's statement that "Bohemia is dead"...
, though his name was mispronounced on the original soundtrack. - Samuel BeckettSamuel BeckettSamuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's 1982 short play "CatastropheCatastrophe (play)Catastrophe is a short play by Samuel Beckett, written in French in 1982 at the invitation of A.I.D.A. and “[f]irst produced in the Avignon Festival … Beckett considered it ‘massacred.’” It is one of his few plays to deal with a political theme and, arguably, holds the title of Beckett's most...
" was dedicated to Havel while he was held as a political prisoner in Czechoslovakia.
See also
- Barrandov TerracesBarrandov TerracesBarrandov Terraces is a complex of buildings in the southern part of Prague, Czech Republic. It is dominated by the functional view restaurant Terraces designed by architect Max Urban . Barrandov Terraces are a part of the project of Václav M. Havel for the construction of a neighbourhood on the...
- Charter 77Charter 77Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in communist Czechoslovakia from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, and Pavel Kohout. Spreading the text of the document was...
- Civil resistanceCivil resistanceThe term civil resistance, alongside the term nonviolent resistance, is used to describe political action that relies on the use of non-violent methods by civil groups to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and...
- HradHradThe word hrad is the Czech and Slovak word for castle and is commonly used as a part of castle name, e.g. Pražský hrad , Spišský hrad , or Bratislavský hrad .*List of castles in Slovakia...
- Humanitarian bombingHumanitarian bombingHumanitarian bombing is a phrase referring to the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War used by its opponents as an ironic oxymoron in response to the stated goal of NATO to protect Kosovo Albanians, and later about other military interventions stressing...
, a term ascribed to Havel - Nonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistanceNonviolent resistance is the practice of achieving goals through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, and other methods, without using violence. It is largely synonymous with civil resistance...
- PtydepePtydepePtydepe is a fictional artificial language featuring in Czech playwright Václav Havel's 1966 play The Memorandum. The play concerns the events that unfold when Ptydepe is introduced as the new official language of an unspecified organization...
and ChorukorChorukorChorukor is a fictional artificial language featuring in Czech playwright Václav Havel's 1966 play The Memorandum. The play concerns the events that unfold when Ptydepe is introduced as the new official language of an unspecified organization. At the end of the play, Ptydepe is tentatively replaced... - Seoul Peace PrizeSeoul Peace PrizeThe Seoul Peace Prize was established in 1990 as a biennial recognition with monetary award to commemorate the success of the 24th Summer Olympic Games held in Seoul, Korea, an event in which 160 nations from across the world took part, creating harmony and friendship...
- Velvet revolutionVelvet RevolutionThe Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
Further reading
Works by Václav Havel- Commentaries and Op-eds by Václav Havel and in conjunction between Václav Havel and other renowned world leaders for Project SyndicateProject SyndicateProject Syndicate is an international not-for-profit newspaper syndicate and association of newspapers. It distributes commentaries and analysis by experts, activists, Nobel laureates, statesmen, economists, political thinkers, business leaders and academics to its member publications, and...
. - "Excerpts from The Power of the Powerless (1978)", by Václav Havel. ["Excerpts from the Original Electronic Text provided by Bob Moeller, of the University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, IrvineThe University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
."] - "The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World" (Speech). worldtrans.org n.d. Accessed 21 December 2007.
- Václav Havel: 'We are at the beginning of momentous changes'. Czech.cz (Official website of the Czech Republic), 10 September 2007. Accessed 21 December 2007. [On personal responsibility, freedom and ecological problems].
- Two Messages Václav Havel on the Kundera affaire, English, salon.eu.sk, October 2008
Media interviews with Václav Havel
- After the Velvet, an Existential Revolution? dialogue between Václav Havel and Adam Michnik, English, salon.eu.sk, November 2008
- Warner, MargaretMargaret WarnerMargaret Garrard Warner is a senior correspondent for The PBS NewsHour. Before joining the NewsHour in 1993, she was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The San Diego Union-Tribune, the Concord Monitor, and Newsweek....
. Online Focus: Newsmaker: Václav Havel". The NewsHour with Jim LehrerThe NewsHour with Jim LehrerPBS NewsHour is an evening television news program broadcast weeknights on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. The show is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, a company co-owned by former anchors Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, and Liberty Media, which owns a 65% stake in the...
. PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, broadcast 16 May 1997. Accessed 21 December 2007. (NewsHour transcript.)
Books (Biographies)
- Keane, John. Vaclav Havel: A Political Tragedy in Six Acts. New York: Basic BooksBasic BooksBasic Books is a book publisher founded in 1952 and located in New York. It publishes books in the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, science, politics, sociology, current affairs, and history.-History:...
, 2000. ISBN 0465037194. (A sample chapter [in HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
and PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
formats] is linked on the author's website, "Books".) - Kriseová, Eda. Vaclav Havel. Trans. Caleb Crain. New York: St. Martin's PressSt. Martin's PressSt. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
, 1993. ISBN 0312103174. - Pontuso, James F. Vaclav Havel: Civic Responsibility in the Postmodern Age. New York: Rowman & LittlefieldRowman & LittlefieldRowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books and journals for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns a book distributor, National Book Network...
, 2004. ISBN 0-7425-2256-3. - Rocamora, Carol. Acts of Courage. New York: Smith & Kraus, 2004. ISBN 1575253445.
- Symynkywicz, Jeffrey. Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution. Parsippany, New Jersey: Dillon Press, 1995. ISBN 0875186076.
External links
- Václav Havel Official website
- Václav Havel archive from The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
- "Havel at Columbia: Bibliography: Human Rights Archive
- Havel Festival
- The Committee for the Defence of the Unjustly Persecuted (VONS) (Website about a history of the VONS)
- Václav Havel at the Literary Encyclopedia
- Notable Names Database
- Václav Havel Official Digital Archive
- Václav Havel Library, Prague
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