If I consider myself to be a European, it does not mean at all I cease being a Czech. It is really the other way round. As a Czech, I am also a European. Somewhat poetically I say that Europe is the mother of all fatherlands Václav Havel, A Speech to the European Parliament, November 11, 2009
Club / News / Program
Open Letter to Aung San Suu Kyi 03/06/19
Dear Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Please allow me to express my joy at your current visit in your official capacity to the Czech Republic. I hope your talks in Prague will be enjoyable and productive. I am particularly pleased with your moving gesture to pay homage to Václav Havel, a long time supporter and admirer of yours, at his gravesite today. On a personal note, I will much enjoy the opportunity to renew, albeit briefly, our acquaintance after our meeting during the memorial evening in honour of Václav Havel at Naypyidaw in November 2016. More
THE WINNER OF THE 2018 VÁCLAV HAVEL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE 08/10/18
Today, on Monday 8 October, 2018, Oyub Titiev was ceremonially announced as laureate of the 2018 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The award is presented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and the Charter 77 Foundation. For more information about the Prize visit us here.
The Unbearable Lightness of Evil – registration open! 30/08/18
Dear friends, please allow us to inform you that we have just launched registration for the sixth annual conference in honour of the laureate of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize, which is entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Evil, and the subsequent concert A Tribute to the Brave. You will find more information here.
Three candidates shortlisted for the 2018 Václav Havel Prize 28/08/18
The selection panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, comprising independent figures from the world of human rights and chaired by the President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Liliane Maury Pasquier, drew up the shortlist of candidatures in Prague today. The shortlisted nominees, in alphabetical order, are: More
Program for June 2019<>
American Spring at the Václav Havel Library: Americans in Prague – What's the news?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 3, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
Interactive panel with three distinctive U. S. journalists based in the Czech Republic. Besides the lost beauty of the Nineties, we will discuss how the American media see the Czech Republic, what stories are interesting for U. S. readers, how these American journalists view contemporary Czech culture and politics, how Czechs see the American community, and how the relationship has evolved over the past three decades.
The discussion will be moderated by Czech reporter Veronika Bednářová and will feature:
Panelists: Jeremy Druker, Executive Director and Editor in Chief of Transitions Online; Elizabeth Haas, writer and editor, author at Expats.cz; Evan Rail, freelance food and travel writer for the The New York Times and other publications.
The program will be held in English.
Organised by Václav Havel Library in cooperation with American Spring.
The Tiananmen Square Massacre – 30 Years Later
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 4, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
On the night of 3–4 June 1989, the Chinese People’s Army sealed off the area around Tiananmen Square and attacked crowds of students who had been gathering there since April to protest human rights violations, the denial of political rights, high levels of corruption, inflation, an outmoded approach to education and growing social divisions. To this day it is not known exactly how many protesters died during the military operation. In China there is a total information blackout regarding the Tiananmen Square massacre.
What preceded the deployment of military forces? Why did the Chinese leadership decide to quell the protests? How does today’s China handle the legacy of the protests and their subsequent violent suppression? Are such mass protests at all possible in China now? And is there any chance whatever of the democracy movement being continued today?
Taking part in the debate will be sinologist Martin Hála of Sinopsis, sinologist Olga Lomová of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts and journalist and long-time China correspondent Tomáš Etzler.
Chaired by Kateřina Procházková. Erik Black, cultural attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Prague, who in the past worked at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, will deliver an opening address.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Sinopsis and the U.S. Embassy in Prague.
European Poets Live
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 6, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
I speak your language: Traditional readings by Czech, German, Slovak and Slovenian poets as part of the festival Stranou – European Poets Live.
Guests: Alja Adam, Axel Dietsch, Miloš Doležal, Markéta Hejná, Rudolf Jurolek, Nina Kremžar, Jiří Macháček, Michal Maršálek, Marie Steinerová and Maja Vidmar.
Music: Lana Petrovič, Marie Puttnerová and Martin Novák.
Lenka and Peter Kuhar will host the evening.
The Library at Knihex
- Where: Kasárna Karlín, Prague 8
- When: June 8, 2019, 10:00 – 20:00
This year once again you can encounter a Václav Havel Library stand at Knihex, a book fair focused on small publishers. For more information, visit www.knihex.cz
Prague Museum Night
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 8, 2019, 19:00 – 00:00
For this year’s edition of Prague Museum Night we have prepared a selection from an exclusive, previously unpublished interview with Václav Havel recorded by Krystyna Krauze, a Polish opposition activist and later graduate of FAMU film school and director, just days after his release from prison in May 1989. For school pupils and students in particular we are also offering short talks by YouTubers on selected events from 1989, while alongside the permanent exhibition Havel in a Nutshell we are showing designs for a new memorial to Václav Havel at Prague Airport. The programme starts with the film screening on the hour and on the half hour.
Debate with Respect: Is the State Sufficiently Supporting Parents of Small Children?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 11, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
In connection with the ongoing debate on increasing children’s allowance, the issue of how the Czech state supports parents, and whether it does so sufficiently, is again being raised. This particularly concerns mothers, who are still responsible for most of the childcare in the Czech Republic. Why are there so few places at kindergartens? And why don’t employers offer many part-time jobs?
Debate chaired by Silvie Lauder.
The Middle Class at a Crossroads
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 12, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
Presentation and debate centred on an exclusive sociological study carried out by the TOPAZ think tank with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
The results of the research may help explain the results of the recent elections to the European Parliament and suggest ways that European issues can be better communicated in the Czech Republic. The study was focused on the middle class – specifically on how it influenced May’s vote and whether it is at all possible to speak about the middle class as a homogenous social group. The presentation will also offer a breakdown of the middle class into individual segments.
Speakers: Tomáš Dvořák, political sociologist, Jakub Charvát, political scientist and electoral marketing expert; MP Markéta Pekarová Adamová; Eoin Drea, senior research officer at the Martens Centre; and Jaroslav Poláček, an analyst with TOPAZ.
The debate will be chaired by Petr Honzejk, a journalist and commentator with Hospodářské noviny.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with TOPAZ.
The Depiction of Migration and Integration in a Polarised Society – Where Are We Now?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 13, 2019, 17:00 – 19:00
Public debate and presentation of the publication Phantom Menace: The Politics and Policies of Migration in Central Europe (2018), published by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Since 2015, when the so-called refugee crisis reached a climax, migration has become a key focus of societal interest and political debate. It has become a subject that deeply divides society, sparking fear in many and influencing politics and electoral campaigns and results, as well as greatly undermining the unity of the European Union. Nevertheless, in the last two years the number of asylum seekers in the EU has fallen to virtually the same level as before the crisis and the subject is slowly receding. That said, a labour shortage and low unemployment in the Czech Republic is leading to a sharp rise in the number of foreign workers and their integration will prove a fresh challenge to society.
How are those changes making themselves felt in the current discussion around migration? How is it being portrayed in the media now, what does it mean for Czech society and how will it influence the country’s migration and integration policy? What role did the subject play in campaigning for European Parliament elections at the end of May?
These questions and more will be considered by Radha Sarma Hegde, an academic in the field of media, culture and communication at New York University; Grigorij Mesežnikov, director of Slovakia’s Institute for Public Affairs and editor of Phantom Menace: The Politics and Policies of Migration in Central Europe, which will be presented within the framework of the debate; Eva Valentová of the Association for Integration and Migration, who wrote one of its chapters; and Adéla Jurečková of People in Need, who will introduce the NGO’s current research into the media depiction of migration in the CR.
The discussion will be chaired by Daniela Vrbová of Czech Radio’s Plus station, who was an editor on the show Zaostřeno na cizince for some years.
Václav Havel: Audience
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 17, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
A legendary “Vaněk” play in its original rendition by Divadlo na tahu. Featuring Karel Beseda and Radek Bár with direction by Andrej Krob and musical accompaniment from Obří broskev.
It is an odd period and everything is upside down. The banned writer Ferdinand Vaněk earns a living by rolling barrels at a brewery. His boss, the chief brewer, is unable to handle with a tricky task “from above”… A beer-soaked clash between principles and a clear philosophy of life and a long-established system of circumventing principles and surviving without superfluous tenets or opinions reveals a monstrous power that twists character and suppresses the freedom of the individual.
The one-act Audience (1975) was initially written to amuse the author’s friends at Hrádeček but was soon performed internationally at a number of theatres.
Several Sentences – Flyers, Demonstrations and Petitions in 1989
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 18, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
The theme of this debate, held in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Several Sentences petition, will be public shows of defiance to the Communist regime in the late 1980s.
The speakers will be then representatives of the opposition movement Hana Marvanová (Independent Peace Association – Initiative for the Demilitarisation of Society), Petr Placák (Czech Children) and Alexandr Vondra (Charter 77).
Chaired by historian Petr Blažek.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.
Evening of Feminist Poetry – Whispers of the Moon
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 19, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
Actress Bára Hrzánová will read from 22 poems collected in Šepoty luny (Whispers of the Moon) by the leading Czech feminist Mirek Vodrážka. She will also discuss feminist issues with the poet: Why was neither the Communist regime nor the dissent receptive to feminism? Why are Czech women afraid to build on the political message of Milada Horáková? How does the myth of female beauty make itself felt in the acting profession? Why is violence toward women growing and what dangers does it pose? How many genders are there?
In the words of the philosopher Miroslav Petříček, Mirek Vodrážka represents a unique voice in Czech thinking: his perspective is always personal but not “subjective” given that it is based on a broad knowledge of specialist literature from many fields (including philosophy, sociology, history and counterculture theory) as well as intensive work with the sources. This is apparent in his book Rozumí české ženy vlastní historii? (Do Czech Women Understand Their Own History?), which via the story of Milada Horáková (and other female victims of the totalitarian regime) reflects on Western and Czech feminism.
Musical accompaniment: Mirek Vodrážka on keyboards and soprano Helena Zaoralová.
Uncovering Belarus
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 20, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
Over the last 10 to 15 years Belarus has defied the stereotypes to become a hotbed of creativity and innovation with a booming IT sector, vibrant artistic and cultural scenes and an increasingly inventive independent media and civil society. This is a side of the country far removed from the "Europe’s Last Dictatorship" tropes we’ve become so accustomed to. Join our panel as they offer a window into this new and exciting Belarus.
Panel:
Yanina Karalevich-Kartel, Belarusian activist and co-founder of citydog.by and its sister platforms “Grassroots” and “Kak eto lyubit’”.
Artiom Kontsevoi, founder of www.dev.by, the hub for all things IT in Belarus.
Anna Loktionova, culture manager, co-founder of the DOTYK queer festival, director of space Canteen_XYZ in Minsk (2016-2018)
Moderator: Marina Puzdrova, Executive Director Civic Belarus
The debate will be held in English.
How to Interview Politicians
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 24, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
It is increasingly difficult to prove the truth in the public arena. How much is the media to blame for this, and how much its consumers and politicians? How should fake news and disinformation be handled? What to do when proven facts are dubbed a premeditated campaign? How can politicians’ genuine opinions be coaxed out of them?
Debate with leading Czech TV presenters who experience these situations face to face with politicians on a regular basis: Světlana Witowská, Jindřich Šídlo and Emma Smetana.
Chaired by Jakub Čaloun, chairman of the association Mladá Politika, and Jan Švenda, Mladá Politika’s deputy chairman.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Mladá Politika.
The Comanche at the Václav Havel Library
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: June 25, 2019, 19:00 – 21:00
US novelist S.C. Gwynn’s Empire of the Summer Moon is a gripping account of the rise and crushing of the Comanche, the most powerful Native American tribe in history. It touches on the era of Spanish rule of the New World, the U.S. Civil War, the mass eradication of the bison and the advent of the railroad. It raises once again the cruel question of colonialism and genocide but does not shirk from describing the brutality of the Comanche free of any veneer of political correctness or even kitsch. The tribe were famed for their unequalled equestrian and martial skills as well as legendary fighting spirit and halted both the expansion of a Spanish empire from Mexico and the French colonisers of Louisiana. However, they were unable to withstand Anglo-Saxon settlers who were well-organised and possessed modern weaponry.
The book, which was widely reviewed in the US and was very warmly received by the American public, delivers a thrilling account of the clash between the rulers of the Great Planes and the conquering white civilisation, employing an objective approach to this complex and sensitive issue.
Taking part in the debate will be Milan Gelnar, director of the Argo publishing house; Miroslav Černý of the Department of English and American Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Ostrava University; Martin Svoboda, editor and translator (Pynchon, Bukowski, McCarthy etc.); and Mnislav Zelený-Atapana, an ethnologist and novelist.
Jáchym Topol will chair the discussion and read excerpts.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with Argo.
Publications / E-shop
The central focus of the Library’s publishing programme is the life and work of Václav Havel, his family and close collaborators and friends. For clarity, the programme is divided into six series: Václav Havel Library Notebooks, Václav Havel Library Editions, Student Line, Talks from Lány, Václav Havel Documents, Works of Pavel Juráček and Václav Havel Library Conferences. Titles that cannot be incorporated into any of the given series but which are nonetheless important for the Library’s publishing activities are issued independently, outside the series framework.
Conferences
Václav Havel European Dialogues
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is an international project that aims to initiate and stimulate a discussion about issues determining the direction of contemporary Europe while referring to the European spiritual legacy of Václav Havel. This idea takes its main inspiration from Václav Havel’s essay “Power of the Powerless”. More than other similarly focused projects, the Václav Havel European Dialogues aims to offer the “powerless” a platform to express themselves and in so doing to boost their position within Europe.
The Václav Havel European Dialogues is planned as a long-term project and involves cooperation with other organisations in various European cities. Individual meetings, which take the form of a conference, are targeted primarily at secondary and third-level students, as well as specialists and members of the public interested in European issues.
Prague 2019Prague 2018Europe at the Crossroads (e-book)Prague 2017Prague 2016Brussels 2015Prague 2015Brussels 2014Berlin 2014Prague 2014 - J. GauckBruges 2014Prague 2014
Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond.
7th Year of the Prize (2019)6th Year of the Prize (2018)5th Year of the Prize (2017)4th Year of the Prize (2016)3rd Year of the Prize (2015)2nd Year of the Prize (2014)1st Year of the Prize (2013)History of the prize
Václav Havel
Educational projects
Man of inspiration
This six-part series of educational videos introduces young viewers to the most important events in Czechoslovak history in the second half of the 20th century, with an accent on the human rights struggle. It is presented by singer and TV moderator Emma Smetana and choreographer and producer Yemi. The presenters of the English versions are native speakers.
Year of Revolution
The year of the Velvet Revolution from the perspective of young YouTubers. A series of seven video lessons aimed at elementary and secondary schools mapping the revolutionary year from January to December 1989 and introducing viewers to key moments in totalitarian Czechoslovakia’s transformation into a democratic country.
Read Havel
A collection of short videos in which well-known young people in Czech public life present iconic and lesser-known texts by Václav Havel.
Václav Havel here and now
A travelling series of discussions about VH and more with Michael Žantovský, intended for secondary school students, libraries and arts centres.
Best Student Essay Competition
One of the key genres of Václav Havel’s work is essays – on literary, artistic, social, political, and spiritual topics. His essays, such as the The Power of the Powerless and A Word About Words, have become classic texts of Czech literature; they have been translated into tens of languages, and are among the few truly world-famous works of Czech culture. This is also why it is necessary to keep cultivating the essay genre in the Czech language – not in the sense of imitating Václav Havel’s writing, but in the spirit of his courage to name unpleasant problems and search for unconventional solutions to them. For this reason, the Václav Havel Library is announcing the next year of the literary competition for secondary students: the Václav Havel Library Prize for Best Student Essay.
Václav Havel´s Bookshelves
The Václav Havel Little Libraries are a key new Václav Havel Library project aimed at establishing a nationwide network of elementary and secondary schools that, with the support of the VHL, will spread the legacy of Václav Havel among their pupils and students. The aim of the Little Libraries is to create in schools (on the model of the existing Václav Havel’s Places) book shelves on which the schools will gather both texts by Václav Havel and texts closely linked to him. They may also contain other written materials, audio and video recordings and photographs.
Lets rock!
Are your students (whether at elementary, arts-focused elementary or secondary schools) interested in history? Do you have a theatre or film club at your school, or are you teaching young people who “just” like to act? If so, we cordially invite you to join the Václav Havel Library in celebrating in a creative manner the centenary of the foundation of Czechoslovakia with the theatre-education project Tomorrow!
Guided tour – Havel In A Nutshell
The Václav Havel Library’s permanent exhibition Havel In A Nutshell introduces pupils and students the life of Václav Havel through a collage of photographs and quotations. Touch screens make use of detailed information and sound recordings to place individual chapters – family, theatre, dissent and presidency – in a broad cultural-historical context, while a large interactive map creates a tangible sense of Václav Havel’s global “footsteps”.
Václav Havel – a Czech myth, or Havel in a Nutshell
This interactive workshop lasting for about 180 minutes takes place in the “Havel in a Nutshell” exhibition hall. Primary and secondary school students are divided into groups within which they deal with various “research” projects. Students work with selected texts and are provided with particular books. The workshop is related not only to the teaching of Czech history, but also to personal, literary, artistic and media training, and increasing student’s democratic consciousness as citizens.
Exhibitions
Havel in a nutshell
The Václav Havel Library’s permanent exhibition brings Václav Havel’s story to life via a collage of photographs and quotations. Touchscreens place individual chapters of his life in the broader cultural and historical context, while a large-scale interactive map allows visitors to gain a tangible sense of Václav Havel’s global “footsteps”.
Oldřich Škácha – Occupation 1968
A collection of photographs by Oldřich Škácha from the Václav Havel Library’s collection.
The Faces of Resistance
Pavel Hroch’s online photographic exhibition captures the stories of those who, across several decades of Czechoslovak history, stood up to evil, inhumanity, oppression and coarseness and who at certain moments displayed courage, will to freedom, love of those around them and common sense.
Via the East to the West
In autumn 1989, Prague was flooded with citizens from the German Democratic Republic. For them, the Czechoslovak capital was to be a transfer station on the journey to freedom, to the western part of their country, whose division was symbolised by the Berlin Wall. One of the main reasons for the sudden growth in the number of refugees was the fear that the GDR would close its borders with Czechoslovakia, the only country East German citizens could enter without a visa, ahead of 40th anniversary celebrations of its foundation.
With a Passion for Freedom
Pavel Hroch’s photographs capture the revolutionary period springing from November 1989 as well as the era of transformation, the start of the 1990s, when things happened in Czechoslovakia that had previously been impossible and unimaginable, a period of joy and carnivalesque festivity, a period of visions, hopes and a great and perhaps somewhat naïve belief in the future. Twenty-five years later, the photographs hold a mirror up to the manner in which those dreams and visions have been realised and to where we find ourselves today.
August invasion of Hrádeček
A meeting of the children of dissidents and others who shared recollections of Václav Havel. The exhibition is a colourful collage of photographs, audio recordings – from talks by individual participants on the subject “My life with Václav Havel”, to a concert by Monika Načeva and Michal Pavlíček – and unique archival materials.
Depository
Archive / Documentation centre / Research projects
The Václav Havel Library is gradually gathering, digitizing, and making accessible written materials, photographs, sound recordings and other materials linked to the person of Václav Havel.
- 50587 records in total
- 15290 of events in the VH's life
- 2994 of VH's texts
- 1784 of photos
- 275 of videos
- 555 of audios
- 5625 of letters
- 14718 of texts about VH
- 5451 of books
- 15274 of bibliography records
Access to the database of the VHL’s archives is free and possible after registering as a user. Accessing archival materials that exist in an unreadable form is only possible at the reading room of the Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, 110 00 Prague 1, every Tuesday (except state holidays) from 9:00 to 17:00, or by prior appointment.
We will be glad to answer your queries at archiv@vaclavhavel-library.org.
Vladimir Hanzel's revolution
Collage of recollections, images and sound recordings from Vladimír Hanzel, President Václav Havel’s personal secretary, bringing the feverish atmosphere of the Velvet Revolution to life.
Václav Havel Interviews
A database of all accessible interviews given to print media outlets by the dramatist, writer and political activist Václav Havel between the 1960s and 1989. The resulting collection documents the extraordinary life story of an individual, as well as capturing a specific picture of modern Czechoslovak history at a time when being a free-thinker was more likely to lead to jail than an official public post.
Pavel Juráček Archive
The Pavel Juráček Archive arose in February 2014 when his son Marek Juráček handed over six banana boxes and a typewriter case from his father’s estate to the Václav Havel Library. Thousands of pages of manuscripts, typescripts, photographs, documents and personal and official correspondence are gradually being classified and digitalised. The result of this work should be not only to map the life and work of one of the key figures of the New Wave of Czechoslovak film in the 1960s, but also to make his literary works accessible in the book series The Works of Pavel Juráček.
The aim of the Václav Havel Library is to ensure that Pavel Juráček finds a place in the broader cultural consciousness and to notionally build on the deep friendship he shared with Václav Havel. Soon after Juráček’s death in 1989 Havel said of him: “Pavel was a friend of mine whom I liked very much. He was one of the most sensitive and gentle people I have known – that’s why I cannot write more about him.”
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