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Biography of Václav Havel

Born in Prague on October 5, 1936, into the family of a prominent businessman, Václav Havel completed his primary schooling in 1951. His "bourgeois" background limited his educational options, and he worked as a chemical laboratory technician attending evening classes at a college preparatory school, while graduating in 1954.
From 1955 to 1957, he studied at the Economics Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague. After finishing his compulsory military service, Václav Havel worked as a stagehand at the ABC Theater in Prague. In 1960 he began working at Prague’s Theater on the Balustrade (Divadlo Na Zábradlí), first as a stagehand and later as an assistant director and dramaturge. The Theater on the Balustrade produced his first plays, most notably The Garden Party (1963), his first major international success.
From 1962 to 1966, Václav Havel studied dramaturgy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He was active in the democratization and renewal of culture during the era of reforms known as the Prague Spring, which ended with the Warsaw Pact invasion in August 1968.
Václav Havel actively opposed the invasion and the resulting hard–line Communist policies. His work was banned in Czechoslovakia in 1969. He moved from Prague to the country and concentrated on his writing, also working for a time as a laborer in a brewery. He continued his activities against the Communist regime, including hosting concerts of banned music in his country cottage. In 1975, he wrote an open letter to President Gustav Husák, criticizing the government.
In 1977, Václav Havel became a co-founder and one of the first three spokesmen of the Charter 77 human rights initiative. He also was a member of the committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted, which was founded by a group of Charter 77 signatories. In 1978-79, he was under house arrest. In 1978, Václav Havel wrote on of his most influential essays, "The Power of the Powerless." Václav Havel was incarcerated several times for his beliefs, the last time from January to May 1989. His longest prison term lasted from 1979 to 1983. After his release in March 1983, Václav Havel wrote three of his major plays—Largo Desolato (1984), Temptation (1985), and Slum Clearance (1987). As part of his continuing resistance to Communist rule, he also was active in the Czechoslovak samizdat press.
In November 1989, Václav Havel became one of the leaders of the Civic Forum opposition movement, which helped bring about the end of Communist rule. On December 29, 1989, Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. The new, freely elected parliament re-elected him on July 5, 1990, for a two–year term.
As President of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, he established new relationships with many world leaders and helped lay the foundation for Czechoslovakia’s new foreign policy. After the June 1992 parliamentary elections, it began to be clear that the federation was heading for dissolution, and Václav Havel resigned from the federal presidency on July 20. On January 26, 1993, Václav Havel was elected the first President of the Czech Republic.
Václav Havel’s plays have been performed around the world, and his books have been translated into many languages. Books in English include Letters to Olga; Disturbing the Peace; Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990; Selected Plays by Václav Havel; Summer Meditations; and Towards Civil Society.
Among his may honors are the Obie Award (USA, 1968, 1970); State Prize for European Literature (Austria, 1968); Prix Plaisir du Théatre (France, 1981); the Erasmus of Rotterdam Prize (Netherlands, 1986); Olof Palme Prize (Sweden, 1989); Ordre des Arts et Lettres (France, 1989); the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (1989); Grande Croix de la Légion d’Honneur (France, 1990); Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal (USA, 1990); Council of Europe Medal (1990); W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award (USA, 1991); Sonning Prize (Denmark, 1991); Internationaler Karlsprels (Aachen, Germany, 1991); honorary membership in the Royal British Legion (1991); Athinai Prize of the Onassis Foundation (Greece, 1993); Theodor Huess Preis (Germany, 1993); Indira Gandhi Prize (India, 1994); Philadelphia Liberty Medal (USA 1994); and Order of the Bath (1996). Václav Havel has been awarded honorary academic degrees from institutions such as York University, Toronto, Canada; Le Mirail University, Toulouse, France; Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.; Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel; Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany; Charles University, Prague, the Czech Republic; Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium; Wroclaw University, Wroclaw, Poland; and Stanford and Harvard Universities, U.S.A.
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