Václav Havel was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on 31 December, before he became the first president of the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003. He was the first democratically elected president of either country after the fall of communism. As a writer of Czech literature, he is known for his plays, essays and memoirs.
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia included students and older dissidents. The result was the end of 41 years of one-party rule in Czechoslovakia, and the subsequent dismantling of the command economy and conversion to a parliamentary republic.
Charter 77 was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Němec, Václav Benda, Ladislav Hejdánek, Václav Havel, Jan Patočka, Zdeněk Mlynář, Jiří Hájek, Martin Palouš, Pavel Kohout, and Ladislav Lis. Spreading the text of the document was considered a political crime by the Czechoslovak government. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, many of the members of the initiative played important roles in Czech and Slovak politics.
The Civic Forum was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence.
Marián Čalfa is a Slovak former politician, who served as prime minister of Czechoslovakia during and after the Velvet Revolution in 1989, as well as de facto acting President for 19 days. He was a key figure in the smooth transfer of power from Communist rule to democracy.
Jiří Bartoška is a Czech theatre, television, and film actor and president of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. His most notable film roles include performances in Sekal Has to Die (1998), All My Loved Ones (1999), and Tiger Theory (2016), as well as the television series Sanitka (1984) and Neviditelní (2014).
The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a Czech rock band from Prague. They are considered the foremost representatives of Prague's underground culture (1968–1989), which defied Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Members of the band often suffered serious repercussions, including arrests and prosecution, because of their non-conformist ideals. The group continues to perform, despite the death in 2001 of its founder, main composer, and bassist, Milan Hlavsa. Up to 2023, they had released nine studio albums and over a dozen live albums.
Karel Cudlín is a Czech photographer.
Milan "Mejla" Hlavsa was the founder, chief songwriter, and original bassist of the Czech band the Plastic People of the Universe, which was part of the inspiration for the anti-establishment movement Charter 77.
Vlasta Průchová was a Czech jazz singer. From the second half of the 1940s, she gradually built up her leading position in the Czech jazz scene. Průchová was the mother of the renowned Czech-American pianist and composer Jan Hammer.
Ivan Medek was a Czech classical music critic, radio broadcaster and journalist. Medek was an important voice of the Czech anti-communist opposition movement, particularly after being forced into exile from Czechoslovakia in 1978. Medek collaborated closely with such Czechoslovak politicians as Václav Havel and Pavel Tigrid in opposition to communist rule.
Pavel Landovský, nicknamed Lanďák, was a Czech actor, playwright, and director. He was a prominent dissident under the communist regime of former Czechoslovakia.
Rita Klímová, née Rita Budínová was a Czech economist and politician. She was Czechoslovakia's ambassador to the United States before that country's breakup in 1992.
Jiřina Švorcová was a Czech actress and pro-Communist activist. Her acting career lasted more than forty years, but she largely retired after the 1989 Velvet Revolution and devoted herself to advocacy of the Communist Party.
Tribute to Václav Havel was an event held in memory of Václav Havel, the last Czechoslovak and the first Czech President, writer, playwright and human rights activist. The concert took place in Lucerna Music Bar in Prague on 23 December 2011, five days after the death of Havel.
Rudolf Battěk was a Czech sociologist, politician, and political dissident during Czechoslovakia Communist era.
Reduta Jazz Club is a music club and theatre scene in Prague, Czech Republic. It is situated on Národní street in the centre of the city, close to the National Theatre. The club is particularly famous for having hosted an impromptu saxophone performance by American president Bill Clinton in 1994. Reduta is the oldest jazz club in Prague.
The American Czech and Slovak Association (ACSA), originally American Czechoslovak Society (ACS), was a Washington, D.C. based national organization with a mission to facilitate contacts and cooperation between people, institutions and organizations in the United States and the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and assist in the transition to democracy and market economy in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution, which ended Communist rule in the country. It was founded in 1990, and in 1994 it served as a foundation for the new American Friends of the Czech Republic (AFoCR).
Miloš Havel was a Czech film producer and studio executive. Havel was a director of the film production company Lucernafilm, which was founded by his father in 1912. He was also a chairman of the film studio A-B, which built its new studios in Barrandov in 1932. He remained in charge of the studio during German occupation of Czechoslovakia. After World War II his wartime activities were criticized heavily, and he was put on trial for charges relating to collaboration with Nazi Germany. Though acquitted, he was banned from working in the film industry. He left the country and settled in Munich. He was the uncle of Czech president Václav Havel.
Lucerna Palace is an entertainment and shopping complex in the New Town quarter of Prague, Czech Republic. In 2017, it was named a national cultural monument.
