Anti-Charter [Anticharta] - Various documents circulated by the Czechoslovak government in 1977 denouncing the Charter 77 signatories as demagogic and anti-socialist enemies of the state. The campaign against Chartists was started off on January 12 in the newspaper Rudé právo, and on January 28 a gala evening was held at the National Theater where officially approved artists and performers signed a petition in support of the communist government. Czechoslovak citizens were often pressured to sign anti-charters as a precondition of employment or other privileges.
Charter 77 [Charta 77]
- Originally the term referred to a document authored by philosopher Jan Patočka, dated January 1, 1977, and signed by 243 Czechoslovak citizens from various walks of life. The document was carefully composed so as not to violate Czechoslovak laws against organized political dissent, concentrating instead on “reminding” the regime of its previous committments to international human rights agreements. On January 7, 1977 the full text of a German translation of the document appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and later in various languages worldwide. The regime’s retalliation against signatories of the Charter was harsh, and many Czechoslovaks were pressured to sign an “anti-Charter.” The term “Charter 77” was later used to refer to the loose association of activists who continued to publicize pronouncements on the Czechoslovak government’s violations of civil and political rights, and the movement inspired several international organizations dedicated to protecting human rights and civil society.
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Civic Forum [Občanské fórum]
- A loose political coalition formed during the Velvet Revolution that sought to unify anti-communist factions in order to wrest governmental control from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. With Havel as the leading figure, Civic Forum successfully negotiated a coalition government with the Communist Party in December 1989, opening the door for democratization and reform.
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February Revolution
- The communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in late February, 1948. In the midst of a government crisis beginning February 20 communist ministers took control of key state organs, carried out purges, and armed “worker’s militias.” On February 25, President Edvard Beneš accepted the resignation of non-communist ministers and the communists took total control of the government, declaring the country a “people’s democracy” in a new constitution. Following the revolution, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia centralized government, nationalized property and the economy, and aligned Czechoslovakia more closely with the Soviet Union.
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Federal Assembly [Federální Shromáždění]
- The Czechoslovak federal parliament (successor to the National Assembly [Národní Shromáždění] from January 1, 1969 until the end of the Czechoslovak state on December 31, 1992. The assembly consisted of a Chamber of the People [Sněmovna lidu] in which seats were distributed proportional to population, and a Chamber of Nations [Sněmovna národů] in which the Czech and Slovak Republics were given equal representation.
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Normalization [Normalizace]
- The policies instituted in Czechoslovakia following the Warsaw-Pact invasion in August 1968 and continuing into the late 1980s. Normalization was a general roll-back of the reforms carried out during the Prague Spring, and was characterized by a tightening of censorship, purges of state positions, restriction of political organizations and an overall stagnation of political, cultural and social life.
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Phenomenology
- A philosophical method, generally associated with the Moravian-born German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and his followers, which emphasizes the analysis of introspective experience of phenomena and a “bracketing” of assumptions about the relationship of experience to any external cause. The most prominent Czechoslovak phenomenologist was Jan Patočka.
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Plastic People of the Universe
- A Prague-based psychedelic rock band formed in 1968, shortly after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. The band’s nonconformist style and attitudes ran afoul of officially sanctioned norms, and the Plastic People often held their performances in secret locations outside of Prague in an attempt—frequently unsuccessful—to avoid conflicts with the authorities. Police often broke up concerts, sometimes arresting or beating fans and band members. After one such concert in February 1976, police arrested twenty-seven musicians and fans, and four were eventually sentenced to prison terms of 18 to 8 months on charges of organized disturbance of the peace. The Plastic People trial was a major spur to the creation of the Charter 77 movement.
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Prague Spring
- A term originally used by Western journalists to refer to a period of cultural and political liberalization in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Beginning January 5, 1968 when Alexander Dubček became first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the period was marked by Dubček’s attempt to create “socialism with a human face [socialismus s lidskou tváří]” in Czechoslovakia in order to shore-up popular support for the communist government in the face of economic troubles. Control of the press was loosened, accountability for police and security forces was promised, and plans were made to move toward a consumer economy to meet better the needs and desires of Czechoslovak citizens. As state control loosened, however, demands for further liberalization gained pace. The regimes of other communist states became nervous about the example being set in Czechoslovakia, leading to the Warsaw Pact invasion on August 20, and eventually to the reversal of reforms known as “normalization.” Following the invasion there was widespread popular outrage and passive resistance on the part of Czechoslovaks, but Soviet troops and the policies of normalization remained for some thirty years.
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Samizdat - Clandestinely produced and distributed writings. Samizdat generally took the form of carbon copies of typewritten texts. Two important samizdat publishers in Czechoslovakia, both of which regularly published Havel’s work in the 1970s and 1980s, were Edice petlice and Edice expedice.
StB - Czechoslovakian State Security [“Státní bezpečnost”]; a non-uniformed secret police force, largely concerned with suppressing dissent. [ Wikipedia ]
Tamizdat - Works of Czechoslovak writers, generally those suppressed within Czechoslovakia, published abroad. Prominent Czechoslovak tamizdat outlets included 68 Publishers in Canada, the press agency Palach Press in Great Britain, and the magazine Svědectví in West Germany.
Theater of the Absurd
- A category of drama most prominent in Europe in the mid-twentieth century, characterized by apparently nonsensical dialogue or situations that challenge or complicate the conventions of rational thought.
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Theatre on the Balustrade (Divadlo Na zábradlí) - Theater in Prague founded in 1958. During the 1960s it was the center of progressive theater in Czechoslovakia, and especially the theater of the absurd. Havel began there as a stagehand and eventually became playwright. He was left the theater in 1968. [ Wikipedia ]
Underground - The cultural movement which sought to maintain a space for unrestrained art and thought amidst the censorship and institutional control of the normalization era in Czechoslovakia. The “underground” included writers, visual artists and performers, and was often the focus of police harassment. Perhaps the most famous underground artists were those associated with the rock band The Plastic People of the Universe, who were often unable to perform legally and were beaten and jailed on account of their performances.
Velvet Divorce
- Common English-language journalistic term for the non-violent dissolution of The Czech and Slovak Federal Republic into the independent states of Slovakia and the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993.
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Velvet Revolution [Sametová revoluce]
- General term for the non-violent demonstrations and negotiations in November and December 1989 that led to the end of communist control of Czechoslovakia.
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VONS - Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted [Výbor na obranu nespravedlivě stíhaných]. Formed on April 24th, 1978, VONS sought to publicize the Czechoslovak regime’s persecution of Charter 77 signatories. In October 1979 eleven members of VONS, including Havel, were brought to trial on charges of undermining the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and five members were sentenced to terms in prison of three to five years.
Warsaw Pact
- A “Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance” among communist states of Central and Eastern Europe signed May 14, 1955. The agreement included cooperation in both civilian and military institutions. Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20, 1968 in order to suppress the reform movement known as the Prague Spring.
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