Vaclav Havel (1936 – 2011 )

Vaclav Havel, a Czech playwright and former dissident, was the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. Vaclav Havel was admired and respected for his humanitarian ideals and honesty. Havel wrote over 20 plays and various non-fiction works dealing with human rights, N.A.T.O., globalization, and the relationship between Czechs and Germans and Europe in general. Vaclav Havel is perhaps though most famous for his major participation as the opposition leader and co-author of Charter 77, which led eventually to his arrest during the Communist regime. After years of imprisonment, Havel was thrust into the Czech presidency after the fall of Communism and the Velvet Revolution in 1989. During his 13 years as president Havel witnessed the Velvet Divorce, which split Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the country’s entrance into N.A.T.O., and the beginnings of negotiations for the Czech Republic’s position in the E.U.