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Václav Havel

Czech statesman, playwright, and former dissident, the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic (1936-2011) · Czechia · Politicians · Died at 75

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He wrote absurdist plays mocking the Communist system, spent nearly four years in prison for it, then walked out of jail to lead the revolution that ended it - and became president.

WritersWriter / AuthorLiteratureTheatrePoliticsFilm DirectingPoetryTelevision

A life in dates

2013Honorary Citizen of BudapestAward2011Died18 December 20112010Franz Kafka PrizeAward20091st of June AwardAward2008Jaroslav Seifert PrizeAward2006Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 3rd classAward2005Monismanien PrizeAward2004Light of Truth AwardAward2003Ambassador of Conscience AwardAwardFreedom AwardAwardGrand Cross of the Order of the White Double CrossAward2001Lagun OnariAward2000Order of State of Republic of TurkeyAward1999Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the GreatAward1997Order of al-Hussein bin AliAward1993President of the Czech RepublicOffice1993-20031990“People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square.”In their words22 March 1990Address at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; quoted in The Independent, London (22 March 1990)

“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.”In their words21 February 1990International Herald Tribune (21 February 1990)

1989“There can be no doubt that distrust of words is less harmful than unwarranted trust in them.”In their words9 December 1989Speech of October 1989, accepting a peace prize; quoted in The Independent, London (9 December 1989)

“I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government, where words can prove mightier than ten military divisions.”In their wordsOctober 1989Speech of October 1989, accepting a peace prize

President of CzechoslovakiaOffice1989-19921975“Life cannot be destroyed for good, neither … can history be brought entirely to a halt.”In their words8 April 1975Open letter to Dr. Gustáv Husák, Communist President (8 April 1975)

1969“Even a purely moral act that has no hope of any immediate and visible political effect can gradually and indirectly, over time, gain in political significance.”In their wordsAugust 1969Letter to the downthrown Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček (August 1969), as translated in Disturbing the Peace

1936Born5 October 1936

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

Václav Havel cut outVáclav Havel cut out1989, Demonstration in Wroclaw, Václav Havel´s Audience poster1989, Demonstration in Wroclaw, Václav Havel´s Audience posterAutogramiáda LuxorAutogramiáda LuxorBoris Chersonskij v Knihovně Václava Havla v Praze 28.11.2018Boris Chersonskij v Knihovně Václava Havla v Praze 28.11.2018Foto KVHFoto KVHHavel-Renault 1Havel-Renault 1Havel-Renault 2Havel-Renault 2Kleť, rozhledna, zvonKleť, rozhledna, zvon

In their own words 10

,
Václav Havel
,
10 statements, newest first

  1. If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.

    Mar 24, 1990, Address to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London quoted in The Independent, London (24 March 1990), Own words

  2. People have passed through a very dark tunnel at the end of which there was a light of freedom. Unexpectedly they passed through the prison gates and found themselves in a square.

    Mar 22, 1990, Address at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; quoted in The Independent, London (22 March 1990), Own words

  3. The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.

    Feb 21, 1990, International Herald Tribune (21 February 1990), Own words

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Awards

Honorary Citizen of Budapest2013
Eugen Kogon Award2012
St. George's Order of Victory2011
Franz Kafka Prize2010
Quadriga2009
1st of June Award2009
Honorary Doctorate from Sciences Po2009
Giuseppe Motta Medal2008
Jaroslav Seifert Prize2008
Karel Čapek Prize2008
Point Alpha Prize2008
Honorary doctor of the University of Liège2007
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 3rd class2006
Bridge Prize of the City of Regensburg2006
Annual award ACFK, Association of Czech Film Clubs2006
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art2005
Monismanien Prize2005
Order of Brilliant Star2004
Light of Truth Award2004
Collar of the Order of the White Lion2003
Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st class2003
Presidential Medal of Freedom, George W. Bush2003
Grand Cross of the Order of the White Double Cross, Rudolf Schuster2003
Gandhi Peace Prize2003
Companion of the Order of Canada2003
Freedom Award2003
Ambassador of Conscience Award2003
German National Prize2003
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic2002
Honorary Doctorate of the University of Lleida2002
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres2001
Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil)2001
Lagun Onari2001
Order of State of Republic of Turkey2000
Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany2000
German citizenship award2000
Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great1999
Award of the Peace of Westphalia1998
Prix mondial Cino Del Duca1997
Order of al-Hussein bin Ali1997

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Václav Havel

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About this person

Havel's bourgeois background closed doors under Czechoslovak socialism, so he turned to theater, writing plays like The Garden Party and The Memorandum that used absurdism to skewer the regime. After the Prague Spring was crushed in 1968, he was blacklisted but doubled down, co-founding Charter 77 and other dissident groups that made him a target of the StB secret police. Between 1979 and 1983 he served nearly four years as a political prisoner. When the Velvet Revolution toppled communism in 1989, his Civic Forum led the transition and he became Czechoslovakia's last president, then the Czech Republic's first after the split in 1993, serving until 2003. His presidency - marked by efforts to dismantle the Warsaw Pact, expand NATO eastward, and issue a controversial general amnesty - earned him more admiration abroad than at home. He spent his final years as a public intellectual, founding the Forum 2000 conference and other initiatives, and the Prague airport now carries his name.

Country
Czechia
Category
Politicians
Type
Politician
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1936 to 2011 · aged 75

In common with Václav

Michael CrawfordAlso in Sorry... (1978)John Perry BarlowAlso in I am Fishead (2011)Lenka DusilováAlso in Stone Bridge (1996)Michal PavlíčekAlso in Leaving (2011)Libuše ŠafránkováAlso in The Beggar's Opera (1991)Marta KubišováAlso in Late Night Talks with Mother (2003)

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