Overview
On October 5, 1936, Václav Havel was born to Václav Maria Havel and Božena Vavrečková, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His father was a restaurateur and a property owner. Havel grew up in luxury, with servants, fancy cars, and elegant homes (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). But, once the Communists took over, his family’s money and properties were confiscated (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). Because of the Communists taking over, Havel and his brother, Ivan M. Havel, were deprived of a high school education, but Havel found his way around this and went to night school (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). Havel began a full-time job as a laboratory assistant and served in the Czech Army (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). Because he served in the army, Havel’s interest in theater grew, and his first wife, Olga Šplíchalová, helped his writing career along (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). His first wife passed away, and he soon married Dagmar Veškrnová, ("Havel, Vaclav 1936-."). He attended technical college, as well as The Academy of Art ("Havel, Vaclav 1936-."). Havel was a member of many different groups, which include, International PEN, Union of writers, Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted, otherwise known as VONS ("Havel, Vaclav 1936-."). He was the last president of Czechoslovakia, from 1989-1992, and the first president of the Czech Republic, from 1993-2003. On December 18, 2011 at age 75, Václav Havel passed away in Vlčice, Czech Republic
Vision
Havel was a unique type of president. Not only was he the head of state, he was also a writer of great clarity and eloquence (Havel, Václav). He was influenced by Theater of the Absurd playwrights (Havel, Václav). He wrote about ...
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...ns as a visionary to the world today.
Works Cited
Havel, Václav. Summer Meditations. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Print.
"Havel, Vaclav 1936-." Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Ed. Kathleen J. Edgar. Vol.
16. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. 121-123. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Feb.
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"Vaclav Havel." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. World History in
Context. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
"Vaclav Havel." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 202-
205. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
"Václav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, 1989--1992."The Cold
War--1945-1991. Gale, 1992. World History in Context. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
"Václav Havel Trials: 1977-89." Great World Trials. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.World
History in Context. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
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