Welcome to the new Václav Havel class!

The entire teaching and administrative staff at ESPOL is delighted to welcome the new undergraduate cohort—more than 500 students—who will now share the same class name: Václav Havel.

Writer, playwright, dissident, and statesman, Václav Havel (1936–2011) holds a unique place in contemporary European history. Denied access to university studies because his family background was deemed “bourgeois” by the communist regime, he turned to the theater in the 1960s. His plays, infused with absurdity and critiques of authoritarianism, earned him recognition in both Czech and international cultural circles.

After the crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, he became one of the strongest voices of the democratic opposition. In 1977, he co-signed Charter 77, a courageous call for the respect of human rights in Czechoslovakia. Frequently monitored, censored, and imprisoned, Havel embodied intellectual dissent in the face of totalitarianism.

During the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the peaceful movement that ended communist rule, he played a central role as leader of the opposition. Elected President of Czechoslovakia in December 1989, and later the first President of the Czech Republic after the country’s separation in 1993, he remained until 2003 a symbol of the transition to democracy.

Beyond his political responsibilities, Havel was recognized as an international moral voice, consistently committed to human rights and dialogue among peoples.

By giving this new ESPOL class his name, we celebrate a European figure who embodies the spirit of peaceful resistance, the power of ideas, and the commitment to democracy.

Welcome, everyone, to the Václav Havel class!