Vaclav Havel, leader of Czech ‘Velvet Revolution,’ dies
Agence France-Presse
Dec 18, 2011 – 9:20 AM ET
Last Updated: Dec 18, 2011 9:23 AM ET
Source - National Post
President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel addresses a joint session of the Canadian parliament in April 1999, as Speaker of the House of Commons Gilbert Parent looks on.
By Jan Flemr
PRAGUE – Former Czech president and hero of the Velvet Revolution Vaclav Havel, who steered his country to independence from Soviet rule in 1989, died on Sunday at the age of 75, his office said.
Havel died in his sleep at dawn after a lengthy illness, his secretary Sabina Tancevova said.
“In his last moment, his wife Dagmar was with him, together with one of the nuns who have been taking care of him in recent months,” Tancevova said.
Havel, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and of the successor Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003, had long battled poor health, partly caused by the five years he spent in communist jails.
“He was the soul of the Czech revolution. Without him and his courageous words, the democratic awakening in Central and Eastern Europe would have been unthinkable,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindeleger also described him as an “exceptional figure, an incorruptible intellectual.”
“His homeland owes him a great deal, as does Europe,” he said. “Vaclav Havel was a moral authority well beyond Czech borders. With his commitment and courage, he pulled the Czech Republic out of communism and led it towards Europe.”
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel in July 2010.
The playwright and former dissident had grappled with breathing problems since he had part of his lung removed in 1996 to stop cancer.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas paid tribute to Havel.
“President Havel was a symbol of what happened here in 1989, he did a great deal for this country, for its peaceful switch to democracy. He was the symbol and face of our republic abroad.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed him as “the soul of the Czech revolution”.
Havel’s health woes stemmed from a poorly treated case of pneumonia he suffered while he was jailed by the communist regime in the 1980s for dissident activity.
Part of his right lung was removed in December 1996 after cancer was detected. The former chain smoker has also suffered repeated lung and heart problems and underwent surgery for a pulmonary inflammation in 2009.
Earlier this year, Havel was taken to hospital with acute bronchitis, from which he had never seemed to fully recover.
The illness also caused “a loss of balance, memory loss and weight loss,” Havel said in an interview.
This summer, Havel retreated to his house in the countryside to convalesce and last returned to Prague to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on December 10.
Havel was born in Prague on October 5, 1936 into a wealthy family which lost its assets as the communists took power in 1948.
He established himself as a leading figure on the scene of the Czechoslovak theatre of the absurd in the 1960s, before being banned from theatres after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
He was responsible for drawing up Charter 77, a 1977 manifesto challenging the communists to live up to their international promises to respect human rights, and he kept fighting the regime which earned him five years in prison.
As communism was toppled in the peaceful Velvet Revolution, Havel was the first-choice man to take the top job in Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Havel married actress Dagmar Veskrnova, 20 years his junior, in 1997, following the death of his first wife Olga a year earlier. He had no children.
TIMELINE: Following are key events in the life of Vaclav Havel:
Havel in 1978, AFP/Getty Images
Oct. 5, 1936 – Born into a wealthy Prague family that made its money in construction and has strong influence in the artistic community.
Dec. 3, 1963 – His first play, “Garden Party” premieres at a Prague theatre, lampooning the communist system.
1969 – Havel is barred by communist leaders from his job as a writer/editor after the suppression of the Prague Spring reforms of 1968. He is forced to work as a manual labourer.
Jan. 1, 1977 – Becomes first spokesman for the Charter 77 dissident group that strongly criticises communist officials.
Oct. 18, 1977 – He is given a suspended sentence of 14 months for hurting the interests of the country, a phrase commonly used at the time to denote criticism of the government.
1978 – He publishes one of his most important works, the “Power of the Powerless”, an analysis of how a totalitarian regime sticks to power by morally corrupting and manipulating individuals.
Oct. 23, 1979 – Sentenced to four and a half years in prison for “subversion” against the state.
Feb. 7, 1983 – Released from prison amid immense foreign diplomatic pressure after falling seriously ill with pneumonia.
Jan. 1989 – Imprisoned again after meeting dissidents and French President Francois Mitterrand several weeks earlier when Mitterrand visited Prague. Havel was sentenced to nine months, but released in May after protests from both home and abroad.
Dec. 29, 1989 – Chosen as Czechoslovak president following the November collapse of the communist regime.
July 3, 1992, – Leaves office ahead of the breakup of Czechoslovakia. On January 26, 1993, he is elected president of the newly-emerged and independent Czech Republic.
Dec. 2, 1996 – A heavy smoker, Havel is forced into hospital with recurring pneumonia. Doctors remove part of his cancerous right lung.
Jan. 20, 1998 – Havel becomes president for a second five-year term after elections. In April, he nearly dies and has emergency surgery on his large intestine in Austria.
Feb. 2, 2003 – Havel steps down as Czech president.
Nov. 2007 – Havel publishes “Leaving”, his first play since 1988. The satire is about a political leader who resigns but refuses to leave his government residence. Some reviewers say it is his best work.
Jan. 2008 – Suffers heart arrhythmia and is released from hospital after two weeks.
May 23, 2008 – Havel wins a standing ovation at the premiere of his new play “Leaving”, marking a successful return to theatre after two decades. The play, inspired by Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, depicts a former ruler whose world falls apart after he leaves office.
Jan. 14, 2009 – Havel is in serious but stable condition after throat surgery and a battle to halt the spread of an inflammation in his chronically ill lungs.
March 8, 2011 – Havel is taken to hospital and will spend several days there due to a fresh bout of his chronic respiratory illness, the Prague Central Military Hospital says.
March 22 – “Leaving” a film version of the play directed by Havel, has its premiere in Prague.
— Starring Josef Abrham, Atiana Vilhemora and Oldrich Kaier, Havel’s movie also includes turns from Karlovy Vary film festival director Jiri Bartoska and Havel’s wife, the actress Dagmar Veskrnova.
— Havel’s movie details the story of a government chancellor who faces a crisis after being removed from political power.
Dec. 10 – Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, arrives in Prague for a three-day visit at Havel’s invitation and the two meet for an hour.
Dec. 18 – Vaclav Havel dies.
Reuters
Agence France-Presse
Dec 18, 2011 – 9:20 AM ET
Last Updated: Dec 18, 2011 9:23 AM ET
Source - National Post
President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel addresses a joint session of the Canadian parliament in April 1999, as Speaker of the House of Commons Gilbert Parent looks on.By Jan Flemr
PRAGUE – Former Czech president and hero of the Velvet Revolution Vaclav Havel, who steered his country to independence from Soviet rule in 1989, died on Sunday at the age of 75, his office said.
Havel died in his sleep at dawn after a lengthy illness, his secretary Sabina Tancevova said.
“In his last moment, his wife Dagmar was with him, together with one of the nuns who have been taking care of him in recent months,” Tancevova said.
Havel, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and of the successor Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003, had long battled poor health, partly caused by the five years he spent in communist jails.
“He was the soul of the Czech revolution. Without him and his courageous words, the democratic awakening in Central and Eastern Europe would have been unthinkable,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindeleger also described him as an “exceptional figure, an incorruptible intellectual.”
“His homeland owes him a great deal, as does Europe,” he said. “Vaclav Havel was a moral authority well beyond Czech borders. With his commitment and courage, he pulled the Czech Republic out of communism and led it towards Europe.”
Former Czech president Vaclav Havel in July 2010.The playwright and former dissident had grappled with breathing problems since he had part of his lung removed in 1996 to stop cancer.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas paid tribute to Havel.
“President Havel was a symbol of what happened here in 1989, he did a great deal for this country, for its peaceful switch to democracy. He was the symbol and face of our republic abroad.”
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed him as “the soul of the Czech revolution”.
Havel’s health woes stemmed from a poorly treated case of pneumonia he suffered while he was jailed by the communist regime in the 1980s for dissident activity.
Part of his right lung was removed in December 1996 after cancer was detected. The former chain smoker has also suffered repeated lung and heart problems and underwent surgery for a pulmonary inflammation in 2009.
Earlier this year, Havel was taken to hospital with acute bronchitis, from which he had never seemed to fully recover.
The illness also caused “a loss of balance, memory loss and weight loss,” Havel said in an interview.
This summer, Havel retreated to his house in the countryside to convalesce and last returned to Prague to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on December 10.
Havel was born in Prague on October 5, 1936 into a wealthy family which lost its assets as the communists took power in 1948.
He established himself as a leading figure on the scene of the Czechoslovak theatre of the absurd in the 1960s, before being banned from theatres after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
He was responsible for drawing up Charter 77, a 1977 manifesto challenging the communists to live up to their international promises to respect human rights, and he kept fighting the regime which earned him five years in prison.
As communism was toppled in the peaceful Velvet Revolution, Havel was the first-choice man to take the top job in Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Havel married actress Dagmar Veskrnova, 20 years his junior, in 1997, following the death of his first wife Olga a year earlier. He had no children.
TIMELINE: Following are key events in the life of Vaclav Havel:
Havel in 1978, AFP/Getty ImagesOct. 5, 1936 – Born into a wealthy Prague family that made its money in construction and has strong influence in the artistic community.
Dec. 3, 1963 – His first play, “Garden Party” premieres at a Prague theatre, lampooning the communist system.
1969 – Havel is barred by communist leaders from his job as a writer/editor after the suppression of the Prague Spring reforms of 1968. He is forced to work as a manual labourer.
Jan. 1, 1977 – Becomes first spokesman for the Charter 77 dissident group that strongly criticises communist officials.
Oct. 18, 1977 – He is given a suspended sentence of 14 months for hurting the interests of the country, a phrase commonly used at the time to denote criticism of the government.
1978 – He publishes one of his most important works, the “Power of the Powerless”, an analysis of how a totalitarian regime sticks to power by morally corrupting and manipulating individuals.
Oct. 23, 1979 – Sentenced to four and a half years in prison for “subversion” against the state.
Feb. 7, 1983 – Released from prison amid immense foreign diplomatic pressure after falling seriously ill with pneumonia.
Jan. 1989 – Imprisoned again after meeting dissidents and French President Francois Mitterrand several weeks earlier when Mitterrand visited Prague. Havel was sentenced to nine months, but released in May after protests from both home and abroad.
Dec. 29, 1989 – Chosen as Czechoslovak president following the November collapse of the communist regime.
July 3, 1992, – Leaves office ahead of the breakup of Czechoslovakia. On January 26, 1993, he is elected president of the newly-emerged and independent Czech Republic.
Dec. 2, 1996 – A heavy smoker, Havel is forced into hospital with recurring pneumonia. Doctors remove part of his cancerous right lung.
Jan. 20, 1998 – Havel becomes president for a second five-year term after elections. In April, he nearly dies and has emergency surgery on his large intestine in Austria.
Feb. 2, 2003 – Havel steps down as Czech president.
Nov. 2007 – Havel publishes “Leaving”, his first play since 1988. The satire is about a political leader who resigns but refuses to leave his government residence. Some reviewers say it is his best work.
Jan. 2008 – Suffers heart arrhythmia and is released from hospital after two weeks.
May 23, 2008 – Havel wins a standing ovation at the premiere of his new play “Leaving”, marking a successful return to theatre after two decades. The play, inspired by Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, depicts a former ruler whose world falls apart after he leaves office.
Jan. 14, 2009 – Havel is in serious but stable condition after throat surgery and a battle to halt the spread of an inflammation in his chronically ill lungs.
March 8, 2011 – Havel is taken to hospital and will spend several days there due to a fresh bout of his chronic respiratory illness, the Prague Central Military Hospital says.
March 22 – “Leaving” a film version of the play directed by Havel, has its premiere in Prague.
— Starring Josef Abrham, Atiana Vilhemora and Oldrich Kaier, Havel’s movie also includes turns from Karlovy Vary film festival director Jiri Bartoska and Havel’s wife, the actress Dagmar Veskrnova.
— Havel’s movie details the story of a government chancellor who faces a crisis after being removed from political power.
Dec. 10 – Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, arrives in Prague for a three-day visit at Havel’s invitation and the two meet for an hour.
Dec. 18 – Vaclav Havel dies.
Reuters