Dagmar Havlova, widow of the late dissident and first post-communist Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel, has revoked her consent for the library named after Havel to use his name, as reported yesterday by Czech Television and Novinky.cz.
According to reports, Havlova stated that she has lost confidence in the library’s current leadership and the path it has embarked on, and does not want to bear responsibility for the way Havel’s name is being used. The library needs the personal rights to the name in order to continue its operations.
Havlova stated that if, in the future, an institution or group of people emerges that is capable of creating and sustainably developing Vaclav Havel’s legacy, she is prepared to negotiate the granting of permission to use his name.
In early June, Havlova announced that she was withdrawing from the cooperation agreement on the Vaclav Havel Library project, following the project’s previous sponsors, billionaires Zdenek Bakala and Karel Komarek. All of them were apparently reacting to the decision by the board of directors to place library director Tomas Sedlacek on furlough, thereby preventing him from carrying out his duties.
Subsequently, the board of directors resigned en masse, with the exception of its chair, David Dusek. Only Martin Palous, the library’s former director and former Czech ambassador to the United States, has remained on the library’s supervisory board.
Sedlacek previously refused to resign and promised to restructure the library. New members were appointed, so both the library’s board of directors and supervisory board became quorate, but the library’s management was waiting for the granting of rights to use the name and rights to educational programmes and research activities.
Havlova previously stated that the new board of directors was appointed without her knowledge, and likely in violation of the library’s statutes. She noted that she had transferred the rights to use Vaclav Havel’s name to the Dagmar and Vaclav Havel Foundation Vision 97 at the beginning of June.
Havlova founded the library in 2004, following Havel’s departure from the presidency, together with Karel Schwarzenberg and Miloslav Petrusek. Havlova was not working for the library at the time, nor was she involved in its management. Economist Sedlacek became the library’s director in March 2025. Before him, diplomat Michael Zantovsky was the long-term head of the library until May 2023.
