Mini Chapter 2: The Life of Vaclav Havel
Mini Chapter 2: The Life of Vaclav Havel
In the aftermath of Prague Spring, Soviet control over Czechoslovakia increased greatly. Gustav Husak had been chosen as General Secretary of the communist party and there was more a more hard line approach. The Kosygin tenure didn’t yield much difference. The threat to Kosygin’s policy proved too great and an iron fist was focused on Czechoslovakia. One person who was a victim of this was playwright Vaclav Havel. Havel was a playwright and dissident of the communist government and as such, was watched by state police and KGB. He was focused upon and made isolated to prevent the spread of his democratic ideals. Here is an excerpt from Havel’s memoirs written in prison but were unfinished at the time of Havel’s mysterious death in 1977:
On The Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia:
“The event was a scary and tragic thing. Many people being attacked by Soviet, German, Bulgarian, Polish, and Hungarian troops was unlawful and the lack of response from the western world disgusted me to my core. They either didn’t know or didn’t care but in any event, I was not happy with how it was handled. The handling of events boiled down to us dissidents who took it into our own hands via radio broadcasting.”
On Kosygin:
“Alexei Kosygin was a noble man at first. He seemed liberal at first and actually making progress towards a more open and free Eastern Europe. However, we saw that out and out, he didn’t care about the bloc. Compared to Brezhnev who sent soldiers and tanks like Khrushchev in Hungary before him, no major incidents occurred in the bloc. It’s a shame he didn’t even try to reform the bloc. Though compared to the current General Secretary, I’d prefer Kosygin.”
The last written part:
“Life in Czechoslovakia is not at all free. There is no freedom of speech, freedom to choose politicians. The police keep a watchful eye on all of us and an iron fist. The freedom to express our thoughts no matter what they are. It is a terrible place to have thoughts against the government. Democracy must come to Czechoslovakia because this iron fisted rule of tyranny can’t and won’t be tolerated. The need for freedom is now. I do believe that it is possible to bring democracy to this country.... (ends there)”
Vaclav Havel died in 1977 under mysterious circumstances with the official cause being labeled heart attack due to stress of imprisonment and the government stole his memoirs and the whereabouts were unknown for the longest time with most people accepting it to be lost and probably destroyed by the communist party.
In November 2009, the Czech government opened up a new investigation with confessions from prison guards and other witnesses. It was confirmed after the investigation concluded in February 2010, around the 33rd anniversary of his death, that Havel was murdered by gunshot wound. The government apologized for these crimes on behalf of Havel’s surviving family and honored him by posthumously allowing the release of his newly discovered, long lost memoirs in its entirety with surviving friends and family close to him filling in the gaps with what he would probably say and giving insight to some of Havel’s thoughts via added chapters. Havel is gone but he remains an icon of Czech and Slovakians everywhere and his story and memoirs were an important reminder of the dark repression of the communist era.
Vaclav Havel :
5 October 1936- 3 Febuary 1977 (Aged 40)
In the aftermath of Prague Spring, Soviet control over Czechoslovakia increased greatly. Gustav Husak had been chosen as General Secretary of the communist party and there was more a more hard line approach. The Kosygin tenure didn’t yield much difference. The threat to Kosygin’s policy proved too great and an iron fist was focused on Czechoslovakia. One person who was a victim of this was playwright Vaclav Havel. Havel was a playwright and dissident of the communist government and as such, was watched by state police and KGB. He was focused upon and made isolated to prevent the spread of his democratic ideals. Here is an excerpt from Havel’s memoirs written in prison but were unfinished at the time of Havel’s mysterious death in 1977:
On The Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia:
“The event was a scary and tragic thing. Many people being attacked by Soviet, German, Bulgarian, Polish, and Hungarian troops was unlawful and the lack of response from the western world disgusted me to my core. They either didn’t know or didn’t care but in any event, I was not happy with how it was handled. The handling of events boiled down to us dissidents who took it into our own hands via radio broadcasting.”
On Kosygin:
“Alexei Kosygin was a noble man at first. He seemed liberal at first and actually making progress towards a more open and free Eastern Europe. However, we saw that out and out, he didn’t care about the bloc. Compared to Brezhnev who sent soldiers and tanks like Khrushchev in Hungary before him, no major incidents occurred in the bloc. It’s a shame he didn’t even try to reform the bloc. Though compared to the current General Secretary, I’d prefer Kosygin.”
The last written part:
“Life in Czechoslovakia is not at all free. There is no freedom of speech, freedom to choose politicians. The police keep a watchful eye on all of us and an iron fist. The freedom to express our thoughts no matter what they are. It is a terrible place to have thoughts against the government. Democracy must come to Czechoslovakia because this iron fisted rule of tyranny can’t and won’t be tolerated. The need for freedom is now. I do believe that it is possible to bring democracy to this country.... (ends there)”
Vaclav Havel died in 1977 under mysterious circumstances with the official cause being labeled heart attack due to stress of imprisonment and the government stole his memoirs and the whereabouts were unknown for the longest time with most people accepting it to be lost and probably destroyed by the communist party.
In November 2009, the Czech government opened up a new investigation with confessions from prison guards and other witnesses. It was confirmed after the investigation concluded in February 2010, around the 33rd anniversary of his death, that Havel was murdered by gunshot wound. The government apologized for these crimes on behalf of Havel’s surviving family and honored him by posthumously allowing the release of his newly discovered, long lost memoirs in its entirety with surviving friends and family close to him filling in the gaps with what he would probably say and giving insight to some of Havel’s thoughts via added chapters. Havel is gone but he remains an icon of Czech and Slovakians everywhere and his story and memoirs were an important reminder of the dark repression of the communist era.
Vaclav Havel :
5 October 1936- 3 Febuary 1977 (Aged 40)
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