Heroes for a Better World

Vaclav Havel
(1936-2011)

Last President of Czechoslovakia, 1st of Czech Republic
1990 Prize For Freedom
1990 International Simón Bolívar Prize
2003 Presidential Medal of Freedom
2003 Ambassador of Conscience Award
2003 Gandhi Peace Prize

birthdate: October 5
birthplace:
Prague, Czechoslovakia

Vaclav Havel was the last President of Czechosolovakia, and the very first president of the Czech Republic. Before Vaclav Havel entered politics he was a world-famous playwright. But after the Communist government banned him from the theater, he began to get politically active. In 1977, he and a number of others started an informal civic initiative called Charter 77, which criticized the government for human rights violations and loosely united its members around the goal of working for civil and human rights in Czechoslovakia and around the world. Havel's political activities landed him in prison a number of times, including a four year stretch. He continued to write plays and essays about the lack of freedom in his nation.

A strong advocate of nonviolent resistance, Havel's efforts culminated in the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist government was overthrown without any blood being shed. In 1990 Vaclav Havel was elected President in the first free election since 1946. Once the nation was free from Communist rule, however, tensions between the Czech and Slovak Republics grew and the Slovak Republic declared its independence in 1992. Havel resigned as president, but ran for election as President of the Czech Republic in 1993 and was then reelected in 1998.


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