A character assassination attempt

the case of Václav Havel

Martina Klicperová-Baker

pp. 253-269

in: Martijn Icks, Eric Shiraev (eds), Character assassination throughout the ages, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a case study—an attempt at the character assassination of Václav Havel (1936–2011) by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. The motive was to destroy the reputation of the leading Czech dissident and to stop his human rights campaign. The character assassination primarily targeted Havel as a prominent member of a banned civic organization called Charter 77, which had documented the trampling of human rights in Czechoslovakia and published its famous statement of January 6, 1977. The campaign against Charter 77 gradually escalated and included the whole so-called cultural front (i.e., artists of various professions, performers, and in particular actors since Czech cultural nationalism has been closely tied to Czech theater). The ideological struggle affected many citizens, most of all the open sympathizers of Charter 77, who were severely prosecuted, and those who were forced to publicly denounce the Charter 77 initiative.

Cited authors

Havel Vaclav