| Vaclav Havel |
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Václav Havel, , 1936 ) is a Czech Writer and Dramatist . He was the last President Of Czechoslovakia and the first President Of The Czech Republic . BIOGRAPHY Václav Havel grew up in a well-known entrepreneurial and intellectual family, which was closely linked to the cultural and political events in Czechoslovakia from the 1920's to the 1940's. Because of these links the communists did not allow Havel to study formally after having completed required schooling in 1951. In the first part of the 1950's, a young Václav Havel entered into a four-year apprenticeship as a chemical laboratory assistant and simultaneously took evening classes to complete his secondary education (which he did in 1954). For political reasons he was not accepted into any post-secondary school with a humanities program; therefore, he opted to study at the Faculty of Economics of Czech Technical University. He left this program after two years. The intellectual tradition of his family compelled Václav Havel to pursue the humanitarian values of Czech culture, which were harshly suppressed in the 1950's. After Military Service (1957-59) he worked as a Stagehand in Prague (Theatre On the Balustrade - ''Divadlo Na zábradlí'') and studied Drama by correspondence at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy Of Performing Arts In Prague (DAMU). His first publicly performed Play was ''The Garden Party'' (1963). His best known play in the West is ''Largo Desolato''. In 1964, Havel to the despair of his mother''Exit Havel'' by David Remnick, The New Yorker, 10 February 2003 {Link without Title} married Olga Šplíchalová. Following the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 he was banned from the theatre and became more politically active. This culminated with the publication of the '' Charter 77 '' Manifesto , written partially in response to the imprisonment of members of the Czech Psychedelic band Plastic People Of The Universe . His political activities cost him five years in prison. He became famous for his brilliant articulation of "Post-Totalitarianism" (see Power Of The Powerless ), a term used to describe the modern social and political order that enabled people to "live within a lie". A passionate supporter of nonviolent resistance, he became a leading figure in the Velvet Revolution of 1989. On December 29 , 1989 , as leader of the Civic Forum , he became president by a unanimous vote of the Federal Assembly. After the free Election s of 1990 he retained the presidency. Despite increasing tensions, Havel strongly supported the retention of the federation of the Czechs and the Slovaks during the breakup of Czechoslovakia, known as the Velvet Divorce . On July 3 1992 the federal parliament did not elect Havel - the only candidate for presidency - due to a lack of support from Slovak MPs. After the Slovaks issued their Declaration of Independence, he resigned as president on July 20 . When the Czech Republic was created he stood for election as president there on January 26 , 1993 , and won. In December 1996 the chain-smoking Havel was diagnosed as having lung cancer . ''Vaclav Havel: from "bourgeois reactionary" to president'', author not mentioned, Radio Prague - the international service of Czech radio {Link without Title} He underwent successful surgery at the University hospital in Innsbruck . The disease reappeared two years later. In 1997, less than a year after the death of his wife Olga, who was beloved almost as a saint by the Czech people''Vaclav Havel: End of an era'' by Richard Allen Greene BBC News online, 9 October 2003 {Link without Title} , Havel remarried to actress Dagmar Veškrnová . Havel was re-elected president in 1998. Havel left office after his second term as Czech president ended on February 2 , 2003 ; Václav Klaus , one of his greatest political opponents, was elected his successor on February 28 , 2003 . Samuel Beckett 's play '' Catastrophe '' is dedicated to him. NOTES HAVEL'S PLAYS INCLUDE:
HAVEL'S POETRY: HAVEL'S BOOKS INCLUDE:
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