Václav Havel

Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. Born October 5, 1936 in Prague (former Czechoslovakia), died December 18, 2011 in Vlčice-Hrádeček, Czech Republic. In 1977 cofounder of the Czechoslovak dissident civic movement “Charter 77”, initiated after the trial with the rock group The Plastic People Of The Universe. Cooperated with the latter in the late 1970s and in the 1980s. Imprisoned several times by the communist regime. In November 1989 one of the leading figures of the “Velvet Revolution” in Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovak president from 1990 to 1992, Czech president from 1993 to 2003.