Club / News / Program
Three candidates shortlisted for the 2023 Václav Havel Prize 05/09/23
The selection panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which rewards outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond, has today announced the shortlist for the 2023 Award. Meeting in Prague today, the panel – made up of independent figures from the world of human rights and chaired by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tiny Kox – decided to shortlist the following three nominees, in alphabetical order: More
Three candidates shortlisted for the 2022 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 06/09/22
The discussion among the seven-member jury helmed by the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe centred on the importance of the issue of human rights during this tense period. The finalists include Vladimir Kara-Murza, a political prisoner and leading Russian democracy campaigner; Ukraine’s 5 AM Coalition, which gathers evidence of human rights abuses stemming from Russia’s invasion of the country; and Hungary’s Rainbow Coalition defending LGBTQIA+ rights. “This year’s selection reflects the central role that human rights play in the current European crisis,” says Michael Žantovský, jury member and executive director of the Václav Havel Library, which bestows the prize in cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Nadace Charty 77.
The Other Europe 27/04/22
Dear Friends, After three years we have completed the international project The Other Europe, during which, in cooperation with partner institutions, we have processed and made public recordings of interviews shot in 1987 and 1988 behind the Iron Curtain, and in exile, with important representatives of the opposition and the arts, as well as random citizens. Over those three years we have prepared video, audio and text of 106 interviews in speakers’ native languages and English translation. Despite public health restrictions in the Covid period, we have jointly prepared 16 international conferences and public presentations in six Central and Eastern European states. More
From Schuman to Havel – what next? 16/02/22
The Václav Havel Library is a proud partner of the project Beyond Robert Schuman’s Europe More
Program for September 2018<>
entry-free
The Needs of Endangered Children
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 3, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Discussion focused on the current status of endangered children in the Czech Republic in the context of ongoing changes in social and family policy. It will also explore the fulfilment of the Czech Republic’s international legal commitments as regards the protection of human rights. The invited guests include experts committed to high standards and dignified conditions in care for endangered children, including subsequent support during adolescence and early adulthood.
The debate will outline the situation at present, including the recommendations that the Czech Republic regularly receives in this area from international human rights organisations (Council of Europe, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, European Court of Human Rights). Another theme will be the introduction of functioning, high-quality services that not only help individual children but are also part of systematic changes that should contribute to the protection of endangered children and their families in the future.
Speakers: Marie Oktábcová (Nadace J&T), Jana Luhanová (Routa), Alexandra Tichánková (Děti patří domů), Klára Chábová (Mimo domov), Tereza Jandová (Dětský domov Korkyně), Radek Laci (Vteřina poté) a Terezie Pemová (NIDAR). Chaired by Tibor A. Brečka.
Debate organised by the National Institute for Children and the Family, the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and the Václav Havel Library in connection with the 22nd world congress of ISPCAN (the International Society for Prevention Child Abuse and Neglect).
August 1968 in Liberec
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 6, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Discussion centred on the tragic events of August 1968 in Liberec, where Warsaw Pact troops killed nine people and injured dozens in the initial days of the invasion. The then resistance included broadcasts by the radio station in Liberec involving Václav Havel and Jan Tříska.
Speakers will include architect Miroslav Masák, historian Markéta Lhotová and a number of others.
Moderated by Tomáš Černý.
Organised in cooperation with the Museum of North Bohemia in Liberec.
NaVýchod Magazine: Martin C. Putna and Radko Mokryk – What is Central Europe?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 10, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
The states that more than a quarter-century ago emerged from the so-called “socialist camp” are today looking for their own identities. What is Central Europe? What kind of future awaits Poland and Hungary? What events on Europe’s eastern borders influence goings-on on the continent? And where does Czechia actually belong?
The literary historian and professor Martin C. Putna, who this year published Obrazy z kulturních dějin Střední Evropy (Pictures from the Cultural History of Central Europe) via the Vyšehrad imprint and has travelled around the countries of the former Hapsburg empire, from Vienna to Galicia and the Balkans, will discuss Central and Eastern Europe. The debate will be accompanied by a presentation of the latest issue of the magazine NaVýchod.
Radko Mokryk of the Department of Eastern European Studies at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, and an editor at NaVýchod, will speak with Martin C. Putna.
Debate with Respekt
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 11, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Discussion with Respekt editors and their guests on a topical issue. More information will be posted at least one week before the event at www.vaclavhavel-library.org
Tereza Boučková: The Race Against Time
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 12, 2018, 20:00 – 22:00
“I selected texts that I think are timeless and good and simply stand up as literature. I left out singularly political texts, as they get old very quickly. But even still the book reflects the time in which we live. I write about it with sadness and disenchantment – and above all with humour and irony!”
Tereza Boučková’s new book Závod s časem (99 nejrychlejších fejetonů) (The Race Against Time (The 99 Fastest Essays)) will be welcomed by Pavel Kohout, Jiří Bouček, Vincenc Bouček and the editor-in-chief of Odeon, Jindřich Jůzl.
Mišpacha will bid the collection mazel tov.
T. G. Masaryk – Overrated or Underrated?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 13, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
The Masaryk phenomenon and its significance today
Film evening with a guest.
Do we idealise the “president liberator” as a national idol? Or do we, by contrast, overlook him and fail to devote due attention to his legacy?
A documentary with fictional elements from Věra Chytilová and unique period footage from the National Film Archive will help shine a light on the personality of T.G.M.
Associate Professor Michal Stehlík, the deputy director of the National Museum and creator of the exhibition The Masaryk Phenomenon, will speak. Czech Radio journalist Magdaléna Trusinová will chair the first of three evenings on the theme of “Famous Evangelists: Masaryk, Horáková, Palach” taking place in connection with the centenary of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.
Contemporary Vietnam
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 14, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
What do we actually know about it? In recent years the political situation in Vietnam has become more difficult. Almost 200 activists are in prison and free journalism and engaged literature are only possible underground. What does Me Nam have to say about it? What environmental themes are dissident bloggers exploring? How do bloggers operate and how are their families protected? What is the situation regarding women’s rights in Vietnam?
The evening will be moderated by Kateřina Procházková, a journalist, project Sinopsis.cz.
Guests to be announced.
Vladimír Dzuro: The Civil War in the Balkans and War Crimes
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 17, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Vladimír Dzuro was the first, and for a long time only, Czech who investigated war crimes in the Balkans for the office of the chief prosecutor at the International Tribunal in the Hague. Dzuro uncovered mass graves and questioned and arrested those responsible for suffering and genocide. He took part in the first arrest of a war criminal since the Nuremberg trials. He got to the bottom of a massacre at the Ovčara farm near Vukovar. As an investigator he was involved in many such cases. The one-time Prague detective spent over nine years as part of a team tasked with investigating war crimes committed by Serbs in Croatia and Western Bosnia. He now heads the Office of Internal Affairs at the United Nations in New York. He has laid down his testimony in his new book, entitled Vyšetřovatel – Démoni balkánské války a světská spravedlnost (The Investigator – Justice and Demons of the Balkan War).
Discussion moderator: David Šťáhlavský (journalist and presenter, head of the Journalism Creative Group at Czech Radio).
Guest will include: Michael Žantovský (director, Václav Havel Library), Anna Richterová (state attorney; in 1999–2008 deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), Jan Pelikán (historian, Department of South Slavonic and Balkan Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University) and Martin Ježek (commentator on events in the Balkans).
Pavel Fiala: A Roundabout Route to Victory
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 18, 2018, 20:00 – 21:00
“The Communists locked my dad up when I was nine. Then the Communists locked my mother up. I was 10 and the Communists caused me to become the winner of the Czechoslovak derby, because I wanted to study and become a veterinarian and they banned me from doing it.”
Presentation of the authorised biography of the legendary jockey Miloslava Hermansdorferová Schulzová. It is a story filled with different levels, detours, obstacles, pure blooded stallions and good people. A phenomenal rider who like Věra Čáslavská won international acclaim for Czechoslovak sport, she always refused to kowtow to bigwigs. Whether winning the toughest races or being banned and forced to shovel manure, she never stopped associating with whomever she chose, including Charter signatories, and was always headstrong and plain spoken.
The author of Obloukem k vítězství (A Roundabout Route to Victory), Pavel Fiala will speak with Miloslava Hermansdorferová Schulzová. Ludmila Vlášková will read from the book and Jiří Kadlec will provide guitar accompaniment.
Jacques Rupnik Reflects on Central Europe in New Collection
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 18, 2018, 17:00 – 19:00
Střední Evropa Je Jako Pták S Očima Vzadu (Central Europe is Like a Bird With Eyes in the Back of its Head) offers Jacques Rupnik’s view of Czech history and politics and more than anything a careful analysis and monitoring of the causes and results of various events, ranging from the creation of Czechoslovakia to contemporary positions on migration and the European Union.
The book is a selection of his most important reflections. Most of the texts are appearing in Czech for the first time and a number of his lectures are now published in full. Rupnik follows the domestic scene in the Central European and European context with an outsider’s distance but also an extensive familiarity with internal matters, with an interest in and understanding of the country in which he grew up. Thanks to his overview, the analyst, recognised both in the Czech Republic and internationally, explores a number of deep-rooted stereotypes and narratives. He also places in the appropriate context several myths, beginning with the fateful years ending in the number eight in Czechoslovak history, to which he devotes the book’s foreword.
Karel Hvížďala and Jiřina Šiklová will discuss the essay collection with Jacques Rupnik while Michael Žantovský will moderate the debate.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with publishers Novela bohemica.
Why Aren’t the Senate Elections about the Senate?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 19, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
An exploration of the Senate’s position today, what it can influence and why elections to the upper chamber are frequently a different version of municipal elections.
The debate will be chaired by Jaroslav Poláček, an analyst with the TOPAZ political institute.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with TOPAZ.
Karel Hvížďala and Jiří Přibáň: Looking for History
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 20, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Dialogue between the famously curious journalist Karel Hvížďala and Jiří Přibáň, a legal philosopher based in the UK’s Cardiff, on the key points in our history in the broad context of the period ranging from the ninth to the 21st century.
The book Hledání dějin – o české státnosti a identitě (Looking for History – On Czech Statehood and Identity) will be presented by Lenka Bradáčová, Jan Kuklík and Petr Zelenka, while Jitka Molavcová will sing and recite.
Petr Fischer will compere the evening.
Organised by the Václav Havel Library in cooperation with the Karolinum publishing house.
The VH Library at the Book World Plzeň Trade Fair
- Where: DEPO2015, Presslova 14, Plzeň
- When: September 21, 2018, 19:00 – September 22, 2018, 21:00
A stand presenting books published by the Václav Havel Library and an accompanying programme in the form of the launch of the new title Mé vzpomínky (My Memoirs) by Václav M. Havel.
On Saturday 22 September at 3 p.m. we cordially invite visitors to the presentation of the memoirs of Václav Maria Havel, a remarkable figure whose entrepreneurial spirit was naturally married to social responsibility. The book can also be read as a monumental fresco of the early days of modern Czech history.
Guests: Ivan M. Havel, Michael Žantovský, Pavel Hájek.
How does the Czech Republic stand on drug policy?
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 24, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Is our drug policy high-quality and effective? What challenges or threats does it face? Can a rational political debate on the issue of drugs take place at the legislative level? The panel will discuss the issue of the effectiveness of drug policy in the Czech Republic and its impact on the public, users and experts.
Confirmed guests: Jindřich Vobořil (former anti-drug policy coordinator), Viktor Mravčík (head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction), Robert Veverka (chairman of Legalizace.cz), Jan Horák (therapist with Renarkorn and representative of the Platform for a Complex Approach to Drug Use and Addiction).
Nine Hundred Pages of the Havel Family
- Where: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 110 00
- When: September 25, 2018, 19:00 – 21:00
Ceremonial presentation of Václav M. Havel’s book Mé vzpomínky (My Memoirs)
The memoirs of Václav Maria Havel, father of President Václav Havel and the scientist Ivan M. Havel can be read in several ways. As a self-portrait of a personality whose entrepreneurial spirit was naturally married to social responsibility. As a chronicle of one of the most prominent families in early 20th century Prague. Or as a monumental fresco of the beginnings of modern Czech history. After all, it was Václav M. Havel who stood at the head of key student and civic activities in the First Republic, who built the Lucerna Palace, who founded the new Prague district of Barrandov…
The book is coming out in the original form conceived by the author and contains more than 300 period photographs and archival documents, the majority of which were previously unpublished.
Ivan M. Havel and the editors Jana Čechurová, Jan M. Heller and Pavel Hájek will discuss the title.
The memoirs of Václav Maria Havel, father of President Václav Havel and the scientist Ivan M. Havel can be read in several ways. As a self-portrait of a personality whose entrepreneurial spirit was naturally married to social responsibility. As a chronicle of one of the most prominent families in early 20th century Prague. Or as a monumental fresco of the beginnings of modern Czech history. After all, it was Václav M. Havel who stood at the head of key student and civic activities in the First Republic, who built the Lucerna Palace, who founded the new Prague district of Barrandov…
The book is coming out in the original form conceived by the author and contains more than 300 period photographs and archival documents, the majority of which were previously unpublished.
Ivan M. Havel and the editors Jana Čechurová, Jan M. Heller and Pavel Hájek will discuss the title.
Hollywood on the Vltava, or the VHL at the Festival of Good Publishers
- Where: Tábor, Czech Republic
- When: September 28, 2018, 10:30 – September 29, 2018, 21:00
As part of the festival there will be an introduction to titles published by the VH Library and a presentation of Václav Maria Havel’s autobiography Mé vzpomínky (My Memoirs). Ivan M. Havel will be in attendance.
Havel Channel
Havel Channel je audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla, jehož cílem je šířit myšlenkový, literární a politický odkaz Václava Havla, bez ohledu na vzdálenost, zeměpisné hranice či nouzové stavy. Jeho páteř tvoří debaty, vzdělávací projekty a rozhovory. Velký prostor je věnován též konferencím, autorským čtením, záznamům divadelních inscenací a koncertům. Audiovizuální projekt Knihovny Václava Havla Havel Channel se uskutečňuje díky laskavé podpoře Karel Komárek Family Foundation.
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.
Diary IV. 1974–1989
399,- CZK
Foolish Writing
299,- CZK
Havel to the Castle
149,- CZK
Kilián Nedory
199,- CZK
Case for a Novice Headsman
199,- CZK
I am not sad. Audience & Vernissage
129,- CZK
To the Castle and Back
249,- CZK
I am the Gypsy Baron
299,- CZK
Conferences & prizes
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 2022Olomouc Prague 2023PragueMnichov 2020Brussels 2020Prague 2019Brussels 2019Prague 2018Brussels 2018Europe at the Crossroads (e-book)Prague 2017Brussels 2017Prague 2016Brussels 2016Prague 2015Brussels 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.
11th Year of the Prize (2023)10th Year of the Prize (2022)9th Year of the Prize (2021)8th Year of the Prize (2020)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
Havel - Albright Transatlantic Dialogues
Since the first Václav Havel Transatlantic Dialogues at GLOBSEC and FORUM 2000 conferences last year, we have lost another stalwart advocate of the transatlantic bond and of the need to face threats to democracy and international order together on both sides of the Atlantic, the former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In view of the close bond between Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright and, after Havel's death, between the Secretary and the Library, the Václav Havel Library, with the approval of Madeleine Albright's family, renamed and rebranded the program as The Havel-Albright Transatlantic Dialogues (HATD), after the two major figures with roots in Central Europe who have personified the bond. Together, Václav Havel and Madeleine Albright symbolize the transatlantic relationship and the fundamental values underpinning it perhaps better than any other two people in recent history. The upcoming Dialogues “The Indispensable Woman: The Legacy of Madeleine K. Albright”, at the FORUM 2000 conference on September 1, and at the “Havel and our Crisis” conference at Colby College, ME, on September 28, will thus become venues for a well-deserved tribute to the pair we all respected and admired.
Transatlantic Dialogues 2021Transatlantic Dialogues 2022HATD 2022 Prague
Václav Havel
Educational projects
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.
- 70942 records in total
- 27871 of events in the VH's life
- 2831 of VH's texts
- 2125 of photos
- 403of videos
- 568of audios
- 6604of letters
- 15101of texts about VH
- 8269 of books
- 40695of 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.
Havel in a nutshell
The virtual exhibition Václav Havel in a Nutshell places the life story of Václav Havel in the broader cultural and historic context in four chronologically distinct chapters with rich visual accompaniment. The exhibition is supplemented by the interactive map Flying the World with Václav Havel, which captures in physical form Havel’s global “footprint”.
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.”
All about Library
Podpořte nás
We are well aware that freedom and democracy must be nurtured. Here at Ostrovní 13, but also on the audiovisual platform Havel Channel, we strive to do so through our own educational programmes, talks, discussion meetings, books, exhibitions, concerts, theatre performances. We honour Václav Havel's legacy and wish that the Library be a living organism and open to all. That is why our programme is free of charge for everyone. This would not be possible without regular financial support from our supporters. Become one of them...
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Help us expand the archive
The Vaclav Havel Library manages an archive of writings, documents, photographs, video recordings and other materials related to the life and work of Vaclav Havel. This archive is predominantly in digital form. If you or someone close to you owns any original texts, correspondence, photographs, speeches or any other work by Vaclav Havel, we would be grateful if you could contact us.
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