Who are we? – Establishment and Mission

As a legal entity, the Václav Havel Library was established and registered as a non-governmental, non-profit making organization on 26th July 2004 by means of Act No. 248/1995 Coll. and as such was included on the Public Benefit Organizations Register, which is administrated by the Municipal Court in Prague under section O, file number 338 (identification number 27169413).

The mission of the Library is to preserve the works and legacy of Václav Havel by placing them in their proper historical context and by highlighting the enduring vitality of the ideas and ideals his life story embodies. Inspired, in part, by the American model of presidential libraries, the Václav Havel Library aims to house Mr. Havel’s works and papers, to document the complex battle for democracy and freedom in the second half of the 20th century, and to stimulate discussion, research, publications and education about the ongoing struggle for human rights and the challenges of post communist political and civic engagement.

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Letters to Olga – essays written in prison, letter

„If I consider the problem as that which the world is turning me into – that is, as a tiny screw in a giant machine, deprived of human identity – then there is really nothing I can do. Obviously I cannot put a stop to the destruction of the globe, the growing stupidity of nations and the repoduction of thousands of new thermonuclear bombs. If, however, I consider it as that which each of us originally is, or rahter what each of us – irrespective of the state of the world – has the basic potential to become, which is to say an autonomous human being, capable of acting responsibly to and for the world, then of course there is a great deal I can do.“

Václav Havel:
Letters to Olga – essays written in prison, letter
March 6, 1982