AJC Mourns Passing of Vaclav Havel, Defender of Freedom and Human Rights

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Dec 18, 2011, 10:02 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC mourns the death today of Vaclav Havel, whose life as a Czechoslovak-born playwright, human rights activist, dissident, and political leader made him one of the most admired and influential figures in modern history.

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Havel became known to the world in the 1970s, when, as an emerging intellectual and playwright, he challenged the iron grip of the Communist Party on his country. He became a driving force in Charter 77, the Czechoslovak human rights movement. His dissident activities landed him in prison. He refused, he wrote, "to live within a lie."

He played a central role in the 1989 "Velvet Revolution," the non-violent movement that toppled the Communist regime. Within a short time, Havel became president of his country, dramatizing the remarkable turn of events. Three years later, after the "Velvet Divorce" peacefully separated the Czech and Slovak lands, he became the president of the Czech Republic, a position he held for ten years. During that time, he received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, supported the successful Czech bid for NATO membership, and helped lay the groundwork for his country's accession to the European Union.

"Havel may have come from a small country on the world map, but he became a towering presence on the world stage," said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who met him several times. "His voice of moral courage and clarity spoke to the highest values of human civilization. The extraordinary example of his life demonstrated that he not only talked the talk, but, still more importantly, walked the walk. He became an author and architect of history. His favorite expression was: 'Truth and love must prevail over lies and hate.' It should, I submit, become everyone's favorite expression."

"Moreover, Havel was a great friend of the Jewish people," Harris said. "Of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, Havel, in 1991, expressed his 'metaphysical feeling of shame of the human race, of mankind, of man. I feel that this is his crime, his disgrace.'" AJC took out an ad in the New York Times to reprint excerpts of his remarks for an American audience.

He also was profoundly dedicated to Israel's well-bring and security, both as an elected political leader and, subsequently, when he joined the global Friends of Israel campaign last year to condemn attempts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

AJC worked with Havel and his colleagues, first during his dissident days, when AJC's Jacob Blaustein Institute helped support Charter 77, and later during the restoration of democracy in Czechoslovakia and surrounding countries. Indeed, at a formal White House lunch given in his honor by President Bill Clinton, Havel stated in his speech: "Let me acknowledge those who have substantially contributed to the creation of an order of security and peace in Europe, such as the American Jewish Committee."

Summing up his approach to life in a joint session before the United States Congress, in 1990, Havel said: "We are still incapable of understanding that the only genuine backbone of all our actions, if they are to be moral, is responsibility."

"Havel stepped up and assumed responsibility," Harris concluded. "As a result, he helped vanquish human depravity and restore hope for the triumph of human freedom and dignity. We are grateful beyond words for his abiding friendship and shall sorely miss his voice of principle and passion."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee