| Olga Havlová | |
|---|---|
| First Lady of the Czech republic | |
| In office 1989 – 1996 (her death) |
|
| Succeeded by | Dagmar Havlová |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Olga Šplíchalová 11 July 1933 Žižkov, Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 27 January 1996 (aged 62) Prague, Czech Republic |
| Resting place | Vinohrady Cemetery, Prague |
| Nationality | Czechoslovak, Czech |
| Spouse(s) | Václav Havel (1964-1996; her death); no children |
Olga Havlová, née Šplíchalová (11 June 1933 – 27 January 1996) was the first wife of Václav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic.[1] She was a dissident under the communist regime of former Czechoslovakia and signer of the human rights' document Charter 77.
Olga Šplíchalová was born in Žižkov, "one of the roughest, working-class districts of Prague."[2] As a young girl, she had refused to join communist youth organizations such as the Pioneers, and Czechoslovak Youth Union.[3] After completing primary school she worked in the factory of Tomáš Baťa. From 1961-69 she worked as an usher in the Theatre on the Balustrade, where Havel was also active. They had first met in 1953 through mutual friends at the Prague writer's hangout, Café Silvia.[4] She married Václav Havel in 1964. She later became an important source of support for her husband when they began to be harassed by the secret police (Státní bezpečnost),[5]and became his voice to the outside world when he was in prison. She was described as "...full of forthright, even earthy common sense. A shrewd, intuitive judge of people, calm but tough, and with a natural dignity..."[6]
She became active among the Czech dissidents after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. In April 1979 she co-founded the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Prosecuted with her husband; beginning in that year, when her husband was imprisoned in June, she also led the samizdat Edice Expedice (Dispatch Series) until his release in 1983. In 1990 she founded The Committee of Good Will, which supports people with mental disabilities.[7]
Olga Havlová died of cancer in Prague in 1996, aged 62. For "outstanding contributions for democracy and human rights", she was posthumously awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in 1997.[1]