Vaclav Havel: 1936–2011

vaclav havel
Kotek / AFP / Getty Images

Beginnings
Havel in a studio portrait from the 1950s. He was born into a wealthy family in Prague in 1936. At an early age, he became interested in science, working as a technician in a chemistry lab. But he would later become enamored with theater, honing his craft as a playwright, before eventually becoming President of Czechoslovakia.

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