Havel Archives

The Vaclav Havel Library Foundation aims to map and document Vaclav Havel’s activities in North America. Our work complements the mission of the Vaclav Havel Library in Prague by organizing access to unique materials documenting Havel’s accomplishments and network in North America that supported his work at home. Havel Archives will be an online database pointing to the records held by North American universities, U.S. presidential libraries, journals and other media sources, and private archives. The mapping project was initiated at the planning workshop, “The Legacy and Sources of Vaclav Havel and his Era” that took place at the New York Public Library in October 2013, which was attended by a number of distinguished librarians and archival experts. The Archive will serve as the primary aid for students of anti-totalitarianism, dissidence, democracy, and East/Central European drama, as well social activists, political leaders, and the general public who are interested in Vaclav Havel. The Foundation can facilitate access to the bulk of Havel’s archives and documents in the Vaclav Havel Library in Prague.

Havel Archives, NewsPortrait of a playwright as an enemy of the state May 11, 2021 Source: The New York Times / www.nytimes.com / By Samuel G. Freedman / The cottage belongs to Vaclav Havel, the Czechoslovak playwright, and although it sits in the hills near the Polish border it resembles nothing so much as a Manhattanite’s Litchfield County retreat. Mr. Havel built the house himself …
Biography of Vaclav Havel by Michael Zantovsky Havel Archives25 years since Václav Havel elected Czechoslovak president December 29, 2015 Source: Radio Prague www.radio.cz / By Dominik Jůn / 25 years ago today, the dissident playwright Václav Havel became the first non-communist president of Czechoslovakia since 1948. Back then, Edvard Beneš had resigned from office in the midst of a communist putsch led by Klement Gottwald. 41 years later, the …
Laura Bush Havel ArchivesMrs. Laura W. Bush: Commemorating Vaclav Havel July 28, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org /    
Havel ArchivesWhy I Became a dissident July 28, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Transcript WHY I BECAME A DISSIDENT Narrated by President George W. Bush VO: In our time, freedom has great historical momentum. But it is not an impersonal force. It always advances through the choices and courage of individuals. A freedom revolution often begins in …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Normalization July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: The Prague Spring July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Havel ArchivesKim Seong Min: Heroes July 20, 2015 Source:  The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Kim Seong Min was born in 1962. He grew up and received his education in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim is the son of a poet and was trained as a writer. After serving ten years in the military, he worked in one of the …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Meciarism and the Civic Campaign July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: The Velvet Divorce July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Heroes July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Khin Lay Havel ArchivesKhin Lay: Secret Book Clubs July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Khin Lay is a Burmese civil society and political activist. She was born in Yangon in 1971. She pursued a career in education, hoping to be a university professor. That ambition changed after Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s democracy movement, inspired …
Lech Walesa Havel ArchivesLech Walesa: Overcoming Fear July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Lech Walesa was born on September 29, 1943, in Popowo, Poland. After primary and vocational education, he pursued a career as an electrician and was employed at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, on the Baltic coast of Poland. As a shipyard worker, he became …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Message to Dissidents July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Working with Vaclav Havel July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
Martin Butora Havel ArchivesMartin Butora: Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution July 20, 2015 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Martin Bútora is a Slovak sociologist, writer, civil society activist and former diplomat. He was born in Bratislava in 1944. He studied sociology and philosophy at Bratislava’s Comenius University and at Charles University in Prague. In the late 1960s, he was a writer and …
The Vaclav Havel Center