Central and Eastern European States -
Dramatis
Personae 1945-2000
Vaclav Havel was born into a
prominent, wealthy family in Prague, in 1936 and as a child
experienced the disasters of the Nazi occupation. To the
post-war communist regime, families such as Havel's were class
enemies and were made to suffer the confiscation of property,
exclusion from education and harassment. Despite these
obstacles, Havel pursued his interests in the arts, in Czech
culture and in particular the theatre. He carved out a career as
a playwright, using membership of officially sanctioned writers'
groups to push the bounds of censorship. His plays often
contained thinly veiled criticisms of the absurdities of
Communism and in 1971 they were banned. In 1975 Havel wrote an
Open Letter to President Husak criticising the regime for its
cynical oppression... "..for fear of losing his job, the
schoolteacher teaches things he does not believe; fearing for
his future, the pupil repeats them after him...Fear of the
consequences of refusal leads people to take part in elections
and to pretend that such ceremonies are genuine elections...fear
that someone might inform against them prevents them from giving
expression to their true opinions."
In 1976 the regime
provided an example of how it would use this 'fear' to enforce
conformity when members of a rock group, The Plastic People of
the Universe, were put on trial accused of deviancy, hooliganism
and disturbing the peace. To Havel, this was more than the
harassment of a few hippy prog-rockers, but an attack on art,
youth, and freedom, "an attack by the totalitarian system
on life itself" and provided the motivation to form the
Charter 77 group (see below). Despite the risks, Havel
exemplified his own moral exhortation to "live in
truth" even as government propaganda strove to portray him
as a self-indulgent, bourgeois dilettante out of touch with the
real concerns of the working class. He faced repeated
harassment, arrest, and imprisonment. By 1989, as the regime
came under increasing pressure, Havel's consistent defiance,
public profile and organisational skills, made him the obvious
leader of the Civic Forum opposition group. Havel had begun the
year with yet another spell in prison but in December 1989, the
Federal Assembly unanimously elected him to be President of
Czechoslovakia. He was unable to prevent the 'Velvet Divorce' of
1993, when the country split up, and he resigned but was
re-elected President of the new Czech Republic. He remained in
this role until his retirement in 2003. Havel died in December
2011.
Lech Wałęsa
was born in Popowo, Poland in 1943. His father was a carpenter
who died soon after the war, as a result of injuries sustained
in a Nazi concentration camp. A devout Catholic and Polish
patriot, Wałęsa and his brothers and sisters were
raised by his mother, aunt and uncle. After school he trained as
an electrician and got a job at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk.He was elected a member of the illegal strike committee
in 1970 and was sacked for his trade union activities in 1976.In June 1978, he joined the illegal underground Free
Trade Unions of the Coast.In
August 1980 Wałęsa became leader of the occupational
strike at the Lenin Shipyards. The spread of the strike led to
the establishment of the free trade union, Solidarity, which
elected Wałęsa as leader. He was arrested again on
December 13th 1981 and imprisoned for nearly a year
as Poland suffered under martial law. In 1983 he received the
Nobel Peace Prize, but as part of the continual harassment he
now suffered, he was unable to attend the prize-giving
ceremony.
From
1987 Wałęsa organised and led, the Temporary Executive
Committee of Solidarity.His
brokerage of the deal that set up the 1989 roundtable
discussions between Solidarity and the communist government was
one of the most significant personal interventions in the
history of communism’s fall. Against the advice of his closest
advisors, he backed his personal authority in an example of
exquisite political timing.The resulting June elections marked the beginning of the
end for communist rule in Poland. In 1990 increasingly isolated
and without a position in the Solidarity led government, Wałęsa
was elected President. His five year term was marked by
political instability during a difficult transition from a
planned to free-market economy. He was narrowly defeated in the
1995 presidential election. Wałęsa gained a reputation
for high-handedness both in his leadership of Solidarity and
later, Poland. But in the face of criticisms of his style of
leadership he asked, ‘Can you steer a ship through a stormy
sea in a wholly democratic way?’
Alexander
Dubcek
Born 1921, in Uhrovec, Slovakia. His parents
were idealistic communists. In 1925, the family moved to
the Soviet Union as volunteers to help build communism. He
learned fluent Russian. Dubcek returned to Czechoslovakia
in 1938. He joined the partisans resisting Nazi control and
fought bravely in the Slovak National Uprising of 1944.
After the War, he rose through the Party ranks, becoming First
Secretary in January 1968. He initiated a series of
reforms known as the Prague Spring. Following the
Soviet-led invasion of August 1968 he was demoted. He was
appointed Ambassador to Turkey, 1969-70. He was then expelled
from the Party, removed from public life and further demoted to
a minor role in the Slovak Forestry Commission. April 1989
- Dubcek was interviewed on Hungarian television. He publicly
condemned Brezhnev's invasion and the years of deceit that
followed. November 1989 - Dubcek appeared at mass rallies
in Bratislava and, with Vaclav Havel, in Prague in support of
the Velvet Revolution. December 1989 - He was elected Head
of the Federal Assembly, under Havel's presidency. Dubcek
died in November, 1992, as a result of injuries sustained in a
car crash.
Wojciech
Jaruzelski
Born in
1923 into a privileged Polish family, he was deported during
WWII to a labour camp in the Soviet Union.He was trained as a Soviet officer and fought for the
First Polish Army. He joined the Communist Party in 1947. He
became Minister of Defence in 1968 and led the Polish army’s
intervention in Czechoslovakia in 1968. In
1981 he became leader of both the party and the state and
declared martial law in December 1981; something he has always
claimed was done to avoid a Soviet invasion. Jaruzelski played a
significant conciliatory role during the Round Table discussions
and became President with the help of Solidarity in 1989. He was
replaced by Lech Wałęsa in 1990. In
2007, Jaruzelski faced prosecution for ‘communist crimes’
and the illegal imposition of martial law. Polish Prime Minister
Jaroslaw Kaczynski compared Jaruzelski to Nazi official Adolf
Eichmann who planned the extermination of the Jews. He was
defended in court by Lech Wałęsa who said, ‘it
is known that I have always opposed Jaruzelski, but I must say
he was under no obligation to come to an agreement with
Solidarity, but he did.'
