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 ArchivesDictators and democratic struggles July 17, 2013 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Eliot Cohen, in his review of William J. Dobson’s The Dictator’s Learning Curve, asks a pressing question: How should the United States develop and implement a freedom agenda that is practical and effective, and that does not involve a calamitous sacrifice of other interests? …
Havel ArchivesNew on the Freedom Collection: Martin Butora December 19, 2012 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / By Lindsay Lloyd In the late 1960s, he was a writer and editor for several student newspapers that advocated reforms in communist Czechoslovakia. After the August 1968 Soviet invasion ended the Prague Spring period of liberalization, Martin worked as a sociologist and therapist, continuing …
Havel ArchivesA Czech rose for Aung San Suu Kyi July 31, 2012 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / In an Op-Ed for the Washington Post, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, former chief of staff to the legendary Vaclav Havel, remembers the hopes of the late Czech President that Burma would transition to democracy. Moreover, he recalls Havel’s “silly” wish to present Aung …
Havel ArchivesOswaldo Pay’s death silence a voice for freedom July 23, 2012 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / By Lindsay Lloyd Oswaldo Paya Sardinas, one of Cuba’s most outspoken and prominent dissidents, was killed in an automobile accident in eastern Cuba on July 22. The circumstances surrounding his death are not yet clear. The Cuban Foreign Ministry stated that the driver lost …
Havel ArchivesDemocracy doesn’t happen in a day June 27, 2012 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / By Lindsay Lloyd Recent news reports have caused many to pronounce that the Egyptian Revolution and the Arab Spring are over. Indeed, the developments of the last few weeks are troubling; as Egypt’s military has reasserted itself as a political force. Elsewhere in the …
Havel ArchivesDemocratic Transition April 28, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 / Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). … Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: The Velvet Revolution April 15, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Havel … Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: Rebuilding After Communism April 15, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Havel …
Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: Intimidating Dissidents April 14, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org Interviewed April 2010 Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Havel was … Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: Fighting the Secret Police April 13, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Havel … Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: Charter 77 April 13, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 / Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). …
Havel ArchivesVaclav Havel: Post-Communism April 13, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 Václav Havel (1936-2011) was a playwright and poet who played a leading role in bringing an end to communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–92) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). Havel …
Havel ArchivesKarel von Schwarzenberg: Unification in Jail April 13, 2010 Source: The Freedom Collection www.freedomcollection.org / Interviewed April 2010 / Karel Von Schwarzenberg was born in Prague into a Bohemian noble family. After the Communist coup d’état in Czechoslovakia in 1948, he and his family fled to Austria. He studied law and forestry, then became active in supporting the resistance movement …
Havel ArchivesRemarks by Václav Havel and Two Members of China’s Charter 08 at the Ceremony for the Homo Homini Award April 30, 2009 Source: The New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com / Václav Havel, Xu Youyu, and Cui Weiping Opening of the One World Human Rights Film Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, March 11, 2009 I offer my congratulations to the recipients of this year’s Homo Homini Award and I am happy they came here from … Havel ArchivesTibet: The Peace of the Graveyard May 1, 2008 Source: The New York Review of Books www.nybooks.com / André Glucksmann, Václav Havel, Yohei Sasakawa, El Hassan Bin Talal, and Frederik Willem de Klerk, et al. The recent events in Tibet and adjoining provinces are cause for deep concern. Indeed, the dispersal of a peaceful protest march organized by Tibetan monks, which led to …