CEU President and Rector Participates in Vaclav Havel Library Launch

Central European University President and Rector John Shattuck participated in the launch of the U.S. branch of the Vaclav Havel Library in New York on May 8. Shattuck, former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic and former U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, chaired a panel titled “Ensuring Vaclav Havel’s Legacy: The Role of the Havel Library.”

Other panelists participating in the launch event included Madeline Albright, U.S. secretary of state, 1997-2001; H.E. William Luers, U.S. ambassador to Prague, 1983-86; Michael Zantovsky, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Court of St. James; Lise Stone, former advisor on North America in Havel’s presidential office in Prague; Jiri Pehe, former political advisor to President Havel, currently director of NYU Prague; and both the director and chairman of the executive board of the Vaclav Havel Library in Prague: Martin Palous and Jan Machacek, respectively.

The New York branch of the Vaclav Havel Library will join the original branch in Prague to fulfill its mission of serving as a center for the documentation and research of modern Czech history, with an emphasis on promoting the ideas and works of Vaclav Havel: playwright, fighter against totalitarianism, leader of the 1989 Velvet Revolution, president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, and a symbol of vigilance against despotism.

The New York branch will work closely with major U.S. libraries and educational institutions to arrange for displays, seminars, and lectures regarding Havel’s life and service to democracy worldwide through his defense of human rights and free civil society. It will collect relevant documents in the U.S., digitize copies of Havel’s papers, and put them all in the public domain. According to Havel’s wish, the library will become not only an archive and research center, but also “a focal point for critical reflection of the state of society and a venue for discussion and debate.”

For more information on the library visit http://www.vaclavhavel-library.org/en/index