Jiri Pehe

Topic continued from TITLE PAGE PRAGUE – Long before Czechoslovakia’s communist regime collapsed in 1989, Vaclav Havel was one of the most remarkable figures in Czech history – already a successful playwright when he became the unofficial leader of the opposition movement....

The government of Poland collapsed first, followed by the Czech government. Then the Hungarian prime minister resigned. The government of Slovakia lost its majority and is unstable. Within months, if not weeks, of realizing the long-sought goal of European Union membership, a wave of political...

The life of Vaclav Havel, who is stepping down as president of the Czech Republic, could serve as inspiration for one of Havel’s own absurdist plays. Born in 1936 into one of the wealthiest Czech families, Havel was one of the people persecuted because of their “wrong class origins” after the...