Václav Havel as a publically involved intellectual was the subject of a working conference, which was held by the Institute for Contemporary History of the ASCR on March 19, 2012 at the Headquarters of the ASCR in Prague. According to the director of the Institute of the Contemporary Oldřich Tůma two reasons led to the organization of this one-day event– the motif of the symbolic farewell to Václav Havel and venerating his memory and an attempt for an examination and discussion on Havel’s impact as publically involved personality meant for Czech society and its history.
The conference does not dealt with his literary works. In the opening session, also the
President of the ASCR Jiří Drahoš appeared and as he said, it is understandable that Havel’s
opinions and decisions were often not perceived and accepted unambiguously: “The evaluation of his
importance and creative engagement in various stages of the existence of the communist regime,
within the formation of the wide opposition movement Charta 77 or his role in the domino effect of
the collapse of the communist bloc at the end of the 1980s is still a great appeal for
interdisciplinary reflection and research interest,” stressed Jiří Drahoš.
Photo: Stanislava Kyselová, Academic bulletin
21 Mar 2012