Alan Pajer speaks at Prague Spring 50
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04/12/2018
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Alan Pajer gives his talk "Photographing Václav Havel" at Prague Spring 50.
https://praguespring50.unl.edu/speakers#alan-pajer
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- [00:00:09.816](speaking foreign language)
- [00:00:23.410]Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
- [00:00:25.360]It's my pleasure that you are present here
- [00:00:28.950]and you are not (laughs) napping in the hotel.
- [00:00:32.771](laughing) And I would like
- [00:00:34.040]to welcome you here.
- [00:00:36.712](speaking foreign language)
- [00:00:50.573](laughs) I will speak Czech;
- [00:00:54.910]I would like to apologize for that,
- [00:00:56.220]because my English is not strong enough,
- [00:01:00.010]and if I would be reading the text in English
- [00:01:03.951]I would have the problem that I would not even
- [00:01:06.700]understand what I am reading about.
- [00:01:09.170]So that's why I will translate this speech.
- [00:01:17.190](speaking foreign language)
- [00:01:25.120]I would like to thank James for organizing
- [00:01:27.710]this wonderful event, and for inviting me here.
- [00:01:36.288](speaking foreign language)
- [00:01:47.410]Now, I will better use the paper
- [00:01:49.210]because I am not a big speaker,
- [00:01:51.720]so I made a few notes for my speech,
- [00:01:54.110]but don't worry, it's not too long.
- [00:01:57.808](chuckling)
- [00:01:59.588](speaking foreign language)
- [00:02:05.590]There is a very difficult task ahead of me:
- [00:02:08.640]to reflect on Vaclav Havel in a short period of time.
- [00:02:14.066](speaking foreign language)
- [00:02:19.400]I was just one of many photographers
- [00:02:21.860]who had the honor of photographing Vaclav Havel.
- [00:02:26.169](speaking foreign language)
- [00:02:41.393]I have no specialized archive that I could turn to,
- [00:02:46.830]but I have many memories and stories
- [00:02:50.000]that I turned to while preparing this speech.
- [00:02:54.628](speaking foreign language)
- [00:03:02.929](laughs) I would like to apologize for not being precise
- [00:03:06.580]in all that I say, perhaps, because most of my memories
- [00:03:11.800]come from the last millennium already.
- [00:03:17.732](speaking foreign language)
- [00:03:27.540]The good thing is that Vaclav Havel
- [00:03:30.430]was such a big personality that even the time didn't--
- [00:03:37.150]Or even throughout the time, I didn't lose the memories.
- [00:03:42.548](speaking foreign language)
- [00:03:45.920]Vaclav Havel was an amazing man.
- [00:03:48.708](speaking foreign language)
- [00:03:51.700]And these were really wonderful times that I spent with him.
- [00:03:57.274](speaking foreign language)
- [00:04:08.270]In my memories, Vaclav Havel was a hardcore optimist,
- [00:04:13.280]full of positive energy, who was constantly spreading
- [00:04:17.220]good mood around him, actually until his death.
- [00:04:23.285](speaking foreign language)
- [00:04:26.109]And it was amazing to work with him.
- [00:04:28.643](speaking foreign language)
- [00:04:32.483]I consider being a photographer as a dream job.
- [00:04:36.007](speaking foreign language)
- [00:04:38.730]And it made real sense for me to work with Vaclav Havel.
- [00:04:44.727](speaking foreign language)
- [00:04:46.960]There was always something going on with him.
- [00:04:58.524](speaking foreign language)
- [00:05:10.730]He conquered the world with his story,
- [00:05:14.010]because in the spring of 1989
- [00:05:16.920]he was a prisoner of conscience,
- [00:05:20.520]and by Christmas he was already the president.
- [00:05:25.205](speaking foreign language)
- [00:05:33.506]He had courage, and that is one
- [00:05:36.440]of the rarest human qualities.
- [00:05:39.720]And he fought for the freedom of others
- [00:05:42.955]at the price of his own oppression.
- [00:05:47.904](speaking foreign language)
- [00:05:55.850]I had the opportunity to talk to him
- [00:05:58.464]two weeks before he died.
- [00:06:02.625](speaking foreign language)
- [00:06:09.950]I asked him if he was disappointed
- [00:06:14.200]about how it all turned out in the Czech Republic
- [00:06:17.800]and in the world.
- [00:06:20.850](speaking foreign language)
- [00:06:35.770]He told me with a smile that nothing was everlasting
- [00:06:42.470]and life moves in certain circles,
- [00:06:46.720]so the struggle for democracy is infinite.
- [00:06:52.574](speaking foreign language)
- [00:07:02.800]He was deeply convinced that the hope is a state of spirit
- [00:07:08.090]that gives meaning to life,
- [00:07:10.620]and had this kind of hope deep within himself.
- [00:07:17.824](speaking foreign language)
- [00:07:29.496]I was wondering what is actually the connection,
- [00:07:32.750]if there is one, between the story of Vaclav Havel
- [00:07:37.027]and the invasion of Russian tanks
- [00:07:39.240]in Czechoslovakia in August, 1968.
- [00:07:45.169](speaking foreign language)
- [00:07:54.196]Vaclav Havel spent the August events of 1968
- [00:07:59.409]just like all of us:
- [00:08:02.685](speaking foreign language)
- [00:08:10.115]after the first, let's say shock,
- [00:08:14.060]he immediately joined the Czech actor
- [00:08:17.300]Jan Triska in active resistance.
- [00:08:21.464](speaking foreign language)
- [00:08:29.060]They started a little broadcasting of Czech radio
- [00:08:33.160]in Liberec town, and informed about the invasion
- [00:08:38.290]of Soviet troops truthfully at that time.
- [00:08:43.892](speaking foreign language)
- [00:08:55.400]After a short period of vain hope,
- [00:08:59.340]the hard repression of the Communist regime came
- [00:09:03.770]under the famous slogan, "With the Soviet Union
- [00:09:07.657]"for eternal times, and never otherwise."
- [00:09:12.700](speaking foreign language)
- [00:09:23.780]And on the 8th of April, 1975,
- [00:09:29.750]Vaclav Havel sent a letter to the Secretary General
- [00:09:32.510]of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Mr Gustav Husak.
- [00:09:38.519](speaking foreign language)
- [00:09:46.000]It was a message to, basically,
- [00:09:48.920]the architect of normalization in Czechoslovakia
- [00:09:53.770]after the August, 1968 invasion.
- [00:09:57.340](speaking foreign language)
- [00:10:05.550]Gustav Husak used repressions and hardline tactics
- [00:10:11.225]to force society to live for eternal times with the USSR.
- [00:10:18.255](speaking foreign language)
- [00:10:28.190]And exactly this, Havel's letter to Dr Husak,
- [00:10:32.470]became one of the first seeds of resistance
- [00:10:36.100]to the communist totality.
- [00:10:39.420](speaking foreign language)
- [00:10:54.027]The regime led by Dr Husak is distant history nowadays,
- [00:10:59.630]fortunately, but the questions formulated
- [00:11:03.490]in Vaclav Havel's letter, with no appropriate answers
- [00:11:07.700]by the communist regime, remain valid till today.
- [00:11:13.303](speaking foreign language)
- [00:11:17.670]The regime's answer did not come back then,
- [00:11:20.300]but its repressions did.
- [00:11:23.921](speaking foreign language)
- [00:11:31.470]Vaclav Havel became the co-founder of Charter 77 movement,
- [00:11:37.100]and many other anti-totalitarian activities.
- [00:11:43.740](speaking foreign language)
- [00:11:51.399]And so there was a dissident born
- [00:11:54.140]within the horizon of a dramatist and writer.
- [00:11:59.508](speaking foreign language)
- [00:12:21.333]And now to the photography itself.
- [00:12:26.660]I was thinking about the roles and highlights
- [00:12:30.240]of Vaclav Havel's life that I could present here today,
- [00:12:35.220]since there is just little time
- [00:12:37.460]to cover Vaclav Havel's entire life.
- [00:12:41.300]A couple of points came to my mind.
- [00:12:43.660]One of the highlights come from Vaclav Havel's interviews
- [00:12:47.300]and the book called Disturbing the Peace,
- [00:12:51.450]in Czech Dalkovy Vyslech.
- [00:12:54.440](speaking foreign language)
- [00:13:01.720]In that book, an editor of the Voice of America,
- [00:13:05.740]Mr Karel Huizdala, conducted an interview with Vaclav Havel.
- [00:13:11.412](speaking foreign language)
- [00:13:23.180]At the end of this book, Karel Huizdala asks Vaclav Havel
- [00:13:28.270]when he balances his life in his early 50s,
- [00:13:32.340]which one of those life roles was the most fulfilling one.
- [00:13:38.414](speaking foreign language)
- [00:13:48.838]Vaclav Havel answers that his life is full of paradoxes,
- [00:13:52.970]just like his dramas,
- [00:13:55.937](speaking foreign language)
- [00:14:02.390]that even though he was well-known as a dramatist
- [00:14:07.000]and a man of the theater, the theater as such,
- [00:14:11.640]paradoxically, was not his favorite thing.
- [00:14:15.875](speaking foreign language)
- [00:14:24.998](laughs) He was admired as a so-called
- [00:14:28.550]prisoner of conscience and dissident,
- [00:14:31.620]but, again paradoxically, he hated politics.
- [00:14:36.438](speaking foreign language)
- [00:14:41.570]And so on the threshold of his 50s, he felt
- [00:14:46.579]that much of life's challenges remained ahead of him.
- [00:14:52.358](speaking foreign language)
- [00:15:08.140]And this challenge came when he announced
- [00:15:11.570]on the 14th of December, 1989, during the Velvet Revolution,
- [00:15:17.330]that he accepted the challenge to become
- [00:15:20.460]the first post-revolutionary president of Czechoslovakia.
- [00:15:27.752](speaking foreign language)
- [00:15:42.059]Vaclav Havel once said that hope is the state of the spirit
- [00:15:47.270]that makes our life meaningful,
- [00:15:50.300]and in order to realize our hopes and dreams
- [00:15:54.070]we must have a vision.
- [00:15:56.830](speaking foreign language)
- [00:16:17.930]Vaclav Havel, as a president, had a great vision
- [00:16:22.870]that Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic,
- [00:16:26.530]will return back to the community of democratic republics
- [00:16:30.610]concentrated in the European Union,
- [00:16:33.970]and his very important vision was the vision
- [00:16:38.950]of the Czech Republic's integration into NATO.
- [00:16:43.727](speaking foreign language)
- [00:16:55.147]And these main tasks were fulfilled, despite the fact
- [00:17:00.985]that he became seriously ill during his presidency.
- [00:17:08.300](speaking foreign language)
- [00:17:17.937]And it was a tremendous honor to work with Vaclav Havel
- [00:17:21.980]as his personal photographer,
- [00:17:23.770]especially during his second presidential term.
- [00:17:29.895](speaking foreign language)
- [00:17:35.800]And now eventually, to my personal memories
- [00:17:38.880]to taking pictures of Vaclav Havel.
- [00:17:43.970](speaking foreign language)
- [00:18:11.787]Vaclav Havel was a very famous guy.
- [00:18:15.190]He was a celebrity considerable with Nelson Mandela,
- [00:18:21.540]Gandhi, Lech Walesa, and it was unbelievable
- [00:18:27.210]what I was able to experience on his side.
- [00:18:33.703](speaking foreign language)
- [00:18:53.782](laughing)
- [00:18:56.040]I have a nice memory on a visit in Germany.
- [00:19:03.150]At the Brandenburger Tor, Brandenburg gate, in Berlin,
- [00:19:08.560]a passerby asked me who was the man next to Vaclav Havel.
- [00:19:15.580]And he said, "That's Mr Johannes Rau,
- [00:19:18.777]"your president." (laughing)
- [00:19:22.489](speaking foreign language)
- [00:19:34.180]It was not the first or last time
- [00:19:36.930]during my travels with Vaclav Havel
- [00:19:39.720]when the locals immediately recognized Vaclav Havel
- [00:19:44.460]but not their own presidents or government officials.
- [00:19:49.748](speaking foreign language)
- [00:20:06.810](laughing)
- [00:20:08.620]My friend, writer Arnost Lustig, once told me,
- [00:20:14.317]"My friend, it goes like in that
- [00:20:17.294]"old songs I listen to on my radio.
- [00:20:21.777]"I hear you talking, but I do not understand the words."
- [00:20:27.237](speaking foreign language)
- [00:20:56.548]What Arnost Lustig said was not the case
- [00:21:00.300]of Vaclav Havel, because he always knew
- [00:21:04.050]what he wanted to say, because he was fighting
- [00:21:08.150]for the freedom of others and for his ideals,
- [00:21:12.313]even if he had to pay for it with his own personal freedom.
- [00:21:17.440]He never gave up, and he never got discouraged.
- [00:21:22.410]Courage is one of the most important virtues
- [00:21:25.790]of a human being, and that is probably
- [00:21:29.260]why he is so well-known around the world.
- [00:21:33.048](speaking foreign language)
- [00:21:54.570]In May, 1989, a political prisoner, writer,
- [00:21:58.820]and co-founder of Charter 77 movement, Vaclav Havel,
- [00:22:03.133]was released from the prison.
- [00:22:05.850]And in December, as said earlier,
- [00:22:09.730]he was elected the president of Czechoslovakia.
- [00:22:13.530]And this unique story touched the whole world,
- [00:22:18.777]and everybody wanted to get to know him,
- [00:22:22.350]and everybody wanted to meet him.
- [00:22:25.663](speaking foreign language)
- [00:22:36.650]There were many beautiful encounters
- [00:22:39.530]and many incredible stories around him at that time.
- [00:22:44.080]There was a historic first visit
- [00:22:46.130]of an American president to Prague.
- [00:22:50.283](speaking foreign language)
- [00:22:56.724](laughs) The Rolling Stones came with a slogan,
- [00:22:59.817]"Tanks roll out, Stones roll in."
- [00:23:04.369](speaking foreign language)
- [00:23:10.428](laughs) The Queen of England gave an audience
- [00:23:14.230]to Havel's dog, Dula, at the Prague Castle,
- [00:23:18.449]which we will see in the pictures.
- [00:23:20.828](speaking foreign language)
- [00:23:31.140]The president, Lech Walesa, and Vaclav Havel
- [00:23:34.130]meet officially at the Prague Castle as presidents
- [00:23:37.677]and not anymore in secret as dissidents
- [00:23:40.660]somewhere in the mountains of Karkonosze.
- [00:23:43.967](speaking foreign language)
- [00:24:05.520]The emperor of Japan admires the crown jewels
- [00:24:11.546]and accepts a symbolic key to the gates of Prague.
- [00:24:16.500]His Holiness Dalai Lama accepts an invitation for tea
- [00:24:20.980]at Havel's home, and Prince Charles
- [00:24:24.535]helps finance the restoration
- [00:24:27.000]of the southern gardens of the Prague Castle.
- [00:24:30.504](speaking foreign language)
- [00:24:53.962]On the street of Prikope in the center of Prague,
- [00:24:57.990]we can meet the famous writer Umberto Eco
- [00:25:01.570]walking with Vaclav Havel to Municipal House
- [00:25:06.370]to accept the Vision 97 Award,
- [00:25:11.622]and not only this, but during his visit to Prague
- [00:25:17.066]Umberto Eco also made a childhood dream come true
- [00:25:21.750]and bought himself a trumpet made by Amati Kraslice,
- [00:25:27.906]which is the same as a trumpeter of a promenade orchestra
- [00:25:33.780]used to play in his little town when Eco was growing up.
- [00:25:38.527](speaking foreign language)
- [00:25:53.370]Everybody wants to take a picture of Vaclav Havel
- [00:25:57.459]or take a picture with him, like for example
- [00:26:01.190]the famous actress Gina Lollobrigida,
- [00:26:04.690]Lou Reed, as well as Bob Dylan, who made an exception
- [00:26:11.190]and agreed to be photographed with Vaclav Havel.
- [00:26:15.463](speaking foreign language)
- [00:26:27.389](laughs) The First Lady of United States, Hillary Clinton,
- [00:26:31.247]drew the spiritual from the little carpet of Dalai Lama,
- [00:26:36.720]and she also tried absinthe in Cafe Slavia.
- [00:26:42.197](speaking foreign language)
- [00:26:54.037](laughs) President of France Jacques Chirac
- [00:26:58.228]goes to grab a beer at the famous
- [00:27:01.420](speaking foreign language), and in the theater Reduta
- [00:27:06.650]the president Bill Clinton plays saxophone
- [00:27:09.910]made by Amati, and afterwards
- [00:27:13.970]grabs a beer at the (speaking foreign language)
- [00:27:18.120]with the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal.
- [00:27:22.119](speaking foreign language)
- [00:27:30.844]And action movie hero Bruce Willis,
- [00:27:34.980]accompanied by his daughters, was getting lessons
- [00:27:38.610]on the Prague Castle's architectural jewels
- [00:27:41.020]directly from Vaclav Havel.
- [00:27:45.138](speaking foreign language)
- [00:27:52.580]And then there was a meeting with the president
- [00:27:56.300]Barack Obama, the first African-American man
- [00:28:00.330]to hold this position, at a summit in Prague.
- [00:28:03.719](speaking foreign language)
- [00:28:09.838]And there is still a red heart
- [00:28:13.010]shining over the Prague Castle.
- [00:28:16.652](speaking foreign language)
- [00:28:27.311]I could continue like that forever
- [00:28:29.910]because these were really all
- [00:28:32.930]pleasant and extraordinary experiences.
- [00:28:36.450]However, documenting these events with a camera
- [00:28:40.060]was very difficult.
- [00:28:42.059](speaking foreign language)
- [00:28:47.120]Vaclav Havel was a humble and shy guy,
- [00:28:50.600]and he did not like to be photographed.
- [00:28:54.277](speaking foreign language)
- [00:29:00.820]The making up or pre-arranging
- [00:29:04.530]of some special shots was impossible.
- [00:29:08.955](speaking foreign language)
- [00:29:12.610]And documenting events outside the protocol
- [00:29:16.720]was the most difficult task.
- [00:29:20.080](speaking foreign language)
- [00:29:27.590]Vaclav Havel really enjoyed to surprise his guests
- [00:29:33.381]with some jokes or some out-of-ordinary experiences.
- [00:29:40.710](speaking foreign language)
- [00:29:51.840]However, he did not wish these events to be photographed,
- [00:29:57.780]as he did not want anybody to think that he was doing it
- [00:30:01.960]only in order to create a special photo.
- [00:30:05.895](speaking foreign language)
- [00:30:09.300]And he took all of these meetings
- [00:30:12.320]as a part of his tour of duty.
- [00:30:15.541](speaking foreign language)
- [00:30:33.940]And his favorite photograph was not the one where he
- [00:30:38.270]was captured dancing rock and roll in the White House,
- [00:30:42.910]but the one where the NATO General Secretary Javier Solana
- [00:30:48.190]and President Clinton are congratulating him
- [00:30:51.880]on the occasion of the Czech Republic joining NATO
- [00:30:56.059]during its summit in Prague.
- [00:30:59.358](speaking foreign language)
- [00:31:03.400]And I think that these days
- [00:31:06.270]everybody highly appreciates the great effort
- [00:31:10.181]that Vaclav Havel put in it.
- [00:31:15.221](speaking foreign language)
- [00:31:48.976]Now I would like to turn your attention
- [00:31:52.120]to the photographs itself; like the first one
- [00:31:56.896]was taken not long before his death
- [00:32:01.876]in DOX Modern Museum of Art in Prague,
- [00:32:07.080]where there was an exhibition
- [00:32:08.660]called The Crimes of Communism,
- [00:32:12.770]and he was standing in front of the picture of Gustav Husak
- [00:32:18.930]and he was telling me that he is thinking about Gustav Husak
- [00:32:26.570]as a shadow that is still following him
- [00:32:30.530]and he can't get rid of him.
- [00:32:33.915](speaking foreign language)
- [00:32:47.180]It's interesting that Lou Reed, who was one of the guests
- [00:32:50.950]at this exhibition, said, "I don't know who is this guy
- [00:32:56.127]"in the picture, but that's for me a stereotype
- [00:33:01.707]"of," like, "a Communist criminal."
- [00:33:08.976](speaking foreign language)
- [00:33:23.813]Here in this picture, you can see
- [00:33:26.220]Vaclav Havel as a prisoner.
- [00:33:30.280]Vaclav Havel spent almost five years in prison,
- [00:33:33.700]and here you can see the pictures from the police archives.
- [00:33:40.037](speaking foreign language)
- [00:33:52.633]He himself didn't like this part of his life
- [00:33:56.960]and he didn't want to talk about this part of his life,
- [00:34:01.300]and he was often making the stories
- [00:34:06.475]less serious than they were,
- [00:34:10.380]and I heard that his imprisonment was--
- [00:34:17.393](speaking foreign language)
- [00:34:23.490]That it was kind of like privileged imprisonment.
- [00:34:29.255](speaking foreign language)
- [00:34:50.775](laughing)
- [00:34:52.932]It's tough for me to translate,
- [00:34:54.070]but it wasn't true that his imprisonment would be easy,
- [00:34:59.790]like, he was imprisoned four times
- [00:35:03.080]and as his co-prisoners said, it was not easy at all.
- [00:35:10.450]Like, he always got very hard work
- [00:35:14.730]and as he was not used to doing such hard work,
- [00:35:18.570]he had really tough times fulfilling the norms.
- [00:35:25.393](speaking foreign language)
- [00:35:41.970]And if he wasn't able to fulfill the norms
- [00:35:47.116]he would get heavily punished,
- [00:35:49.930]and these punishments also led to his future illnesses
- [00:35:58.780]and frequent pneumonias.
- [00:36:02.372](speaking foreign language)
- [00:36:21.700]He had rare privileges, like one to mention would be
- [00:36:27.170]that from time to time he got a pack of cigarettes,
- [00:36:32.470]or during New Year's Eve they could watch TV
- [00:36:38.150]for a little while, but just in case
- [00:36:40.390]that there were more prisoners who chose the same program.
- [00:36:46.468](speaking foreign language)
- [00:36:50.510]And he wanted to watch opera--
- [00:36:56.090]Bartered Bride. Bartered Bride,
- [00:36:58.750]in Czech Prodana Nevesta.
- [00:37:01.233](speaking foreign language)
- [00:37:10.000]And since he had enough cigarettes on disposal
- [00:37:15.030]he bribed (laughs) the other prisoners
- [00:37:18.630]to vote for the same (laughs) channel.
- [00:37:23.610]So that's how he got to see it.
- [00:37:28.911](speaking foreign language)
- [00:37:38.540]With this picture we get to the Velvet Revolution itself,
- [00:37:44.180]and the slogan of the revolution was, "We have bare hands."
- [00:37:53.471](speaking foreign language)
- [00:38:07.057]Here we can see Vaclav Havel and his wife Olga
- [00:38:11.690]at that crucial moment when he was deciding
- [00:38:15.420]whether he should enter the balcony and tell the crowd
- [00:38:20.680]that he is accepting the challenge.
- [00:38:28.072](speaking foreign language)
- [00:38:34.225]This is a portrait of Vaclav Havel from November, 1989.
- [00:38:41.570](speaking foreign language)
- [00:38:59.460]And that is the crucial moment
- [00:39:02.540]when the serious decision was made
- [00:39:05.411]that Vaclav Havel will accept the presidential challenge,
- [00:39:10.020]whereas his wife was against it,
- [00:39:13.510]so they went to the famous spa U Pinkasu
- [00:39:18.390]and there was this decision made.
- [00:39:26.298](speaking foreign language)
- [00:39:35.709]And this is the famous shot from the balcony
- [00:39:38.723]where he is informing the crowds of people
- [00:39:45.000]that he is accepting the presidential challenge, or--
- [00:39:52.569]Candidature?
- [00:39:55.240]Candidature, mmhmm.
- [00:39:57.814](speaking foreign language)
- [00:40:10.730]Okay, we skipped a little bit in time
- [00:40:13.010]and here is Vaclav Havel signing his declaration
- [00:40:18.920]for his second presidential run.
- [00:40:26.156](speaking foreign language)
- [00:40:32.796]This (laughs) portrait is called,
- [00:40:37.130]I call it "The Happy President." (laughs)
- [00:40:42.009]Satisfied president. (speaking foreign language)
- [00:41:01.297](laughs) Although the situation
- [00:41:05.801]under which this photo was taken
- [00:41:08.290]was not that satisfying or happy,
- [00:41:11.700]because Vaclav Havel came back to his office
- [00:41:14.660]after longer sickness or illness,
- [00:41:18.510]and the head of his budget,
- [00:41:21.740]who was Vaclav Klaus at that time,
- [00:41:24.660]told him that the expenditures have to be cut.
- [00:41:33.588](speaking foreign language)
- [00:41:45.032]So that's the first historical visit
- [00:41:47.400]of an American president, George Bush, in Prague.
- [00:41:55.049](speaking foreign language)
- [00:42:12.200]So this is an interesting photo
- [00:42:15.930]because it's the first celebrity visit in Prague
- [00:42:21.340]in January, 1990.
- [00:42:26.051](speaking foreign language)
- [00:42:32.890]I think you can recognize the lady
- [00:42:35.540]in the middle of the picture; it's Jane Fonda.
- [00:42:39.916](speaking foreign language)
- [00:42:52.590]And the mayor of the city is ordering three beers.
- [00:42:57.953](laughing)
- [00:43:00.316](speaking foreign language)
- [00:43:15.038]The visit itself didn't end up so well
- [00:43:20.200]as this order, probably, (laughs)
- [00:43:22.980]because Jane Fonda had a plan;
- [00:43:27.130]while she came to Prague she wanted to buy and arrange--
- [00:43:34.591](speaking off camera) The filming, the author rights
- [00:43:38.074]for a movie about Vaclav Havel.
- [00:43:42.362](speaking foreign language) (speaking off camera)
- [00:43:48.341]Oh, about the book Letters to Olga.
- [00:43:52.122](speaking foreign language)
- [00:43:59.576](laughing)
- [00:44:01.199]But she only read the title of the book,
- [00:44:02.590]and she didn't realize that it's a serious political talk
- [00:44:09.000]and not a romantic story like Anna Karenina.
- [00:44:14.936](speaking foreign language)
- [00:44:16.860]So she left unsatisfied.
- [00:44:22.236](speaking foreign language)
- [00:44:33.677]This picture is very precious because you can see
- [00:44:36.880]Vaclav Havel after 20 years on theater stage.
- [00:44:42.459](speaking foreign language)
- [00:44:49.420]It is in the Prague theater Cinoherni klub
- [00:44:54.500]on the 14th of January, 1990,
- [00:44:58.690]and the play is called Audience.
- [00:45:02.581](speaking foreign language)
- [00:45:10.640]And what is interesting about this playwright
- [00:45:16.640]is that this theater piece was co-financed by Paul Newman.
- [00:45:27.994](speaking foreign language)
- [00:45:41.402]That's Frank Zappa and the music group
- [00:45:44.730]Plastic People of the Universe
- [00:45:46.820]having a concert together in Prague.
- [00:45:50.303](speaking foreign language)
- [00:46:12.397](laughing) It was interesting
- [00:46:13.940]that when the American underground musician Frank Zappa came
- [00:46:20.140]and he started playing with Mejla Hlavsa and Jirous, Magor,
- [00:46:26.590]he asked whether the police is not coming
- [00:46:31.890]and arresting them in the next moment.
- [00:46:35.501](speaking foreign language)
- [00:46:49.580]Actually, the initial plan was that Vaclav Havel
- [00:46:53.250]will attend this concert, but the organization
- [00:46:56.610]of this event was somehow (laughs) not very successful,
- [00:47:00.800]so Vaclav Havel was not let in.
- [00:47:03.939]So Frank Zappa was quite disappointed.
- [00:47:09.641](speaking foreign language)
- [00:47:15.250]And this is one of the most famous pictures,
- [00:47:18.300]when the Rolling Stones rolled in.
- [00:47:23.013]To Prague. To Prague.
- [00:47:25.295](speaking foreign language)
- [00:47:40.989]It was also (laughs) amusing that when Mick Jagger
- [00:47:47.550]was walking with Vaclav Havel on the Charles Bridge,
- [00:47:52.940]he would ask him, "Where is the Prague Castle,"
- [00:47:55.770]like "Did it disappear somewhere?"
- [00:47:59.036](speaking foreign language)
- [00:48:09.830]We didn't quite get that at that moment
- [00:48:12.400]because we were all used to the fact
- [00:48:15.020]that Prague is dark in the evening, during the night,
- [00:48:20.020]and there was no lighting.
- [00:48:23.834](speaking foreign language)
- [00:48:37.530]So the Rolling Stones were actually financing
- [00:48:40.940]the first study of--
- [00:48:43.640]Say enlightening? (speaking off camera)
- [00:48:45.140]Illumination of the Prague Castle,
- [00:48:48.320]and this study was made by their professional--
- [00:48:54.211](speaking off camera) Light designers,
- [00:48:57.900]who had really great practice from their concerts.
- [00:49:02.730](speaking foreign language)
- [00:49:12.104]And also, Rolling Stones designed and financed
- [00:49:16.390]the illumination of the biggest festive hall
- [00:49:22.160]at the Prague Castle, so-called Spanish Hall.
- [00:49:30.328](speaking foreign language)
- [00:49:38.043]And now we can see the British queen
- [00:49:41.330]entering the illuminated Spanish Hall at the Prague Castle.
- [00:49:49.183](speaking foreign language)
- [00:50:01.070]I also put this picture in the presentation
- [00:50:05.130]because it's interesting by the fact
- [00:50:08.600]that you could read in the novel Three Musketeers,
- [00:50:16.624]from Alexander Dumas-- (speaking foreign language)
- [00:50:20.570]Because she has the same diamonds, jewels, on her;
- [00:50:26.806](speaking foreign language)
- [00:50:34.565]and she also has the Order of British Imperium?
- [00:50:41.573]Empire. Empire,
- [00:50:43.060]that she's talking very rarely on.
- [00:50:49.589](speaking foreign language)
- [00:50:55.762](laughing)
- [00:50:57.147]And this is my favorite famous picture
- [00:51:01.391]that I was not allowed to take picture of.
- [00:51:06.290](speaking foreign language)
- [00:51:13.423](laughs) I should serve as a bodyguard
- [00:51:17.410]who should be guarding the dog,
- [00:51:20.689](speaking foreign language)
- [00:51:24.560]because the dog, called Dula, was the dog
- [00:51:28.900]of the wife of Vaclav Havel, Olga.
- [00:51:32.567](speaking foreign language)
- [00:51:36.210]And his wife Olga was dead at that time already.
- [00:51:43.548](speaking foreign language)
- [00:51:56.092]And Dula was a very nervous dog, because she lost her--
- [00:52:01.798]Mama? Mistress, yeah.
- [00:52:03.364]Mistress. (laughs)
- [00:52:05.188]And there were all the time many people around her
- [00:52:07.620]and she was quite a problematic dog.
- [00:52:10.708](speaking foreign language)
- [00:52:13.529](laughing) And she--
- [00:52:16.190]Bit. Bit many
- [00:52:19.010]famous celebrities. (laughing)
- [00:52:21.930](speaking foreign language)
- [00:52:26.266](laughs) For example, Francois Mitterrand was bit by her.
- [00:52:31.622](speaking foreign language)
- [00:52:55.595](laughs) And also interesting is the name of the dog,
- [00:52:58.900]because the dog was called after the first--
- [00:53:04.598](speaking off camera)
- [00:53:06.417]After the first Hungarian president, Dula...
- [00:53:11.346](speaking foreign language)
- [00:53:20.959]How was he called, Dula? (speaking off camera)
- [00:53:25.320]The president? (speaking off camera)
- [00:53:27.474]Okay, he was called Dula, however,
- [00:53:29.230]and (laughs) when Olga got this dog
- [00:53:32.930]she said, "Oh, he looks like Dula." (laughs)
- [00:53:38.139](speaking foreign language)
- [00:53:46.010]And the British queen was asking Vaclav Havel
- [00:53:49.780]where he has his dog.
- [00:53:52.351](speaking foreign language)
- [00:53:58.930]And since Vaclav Havel knew that the British queen
- [00:54:02.130]loved the dogs, and she herself had many dogs,
- [00:54:06.977](speaking foreign language)
- [00:54:14.150]and day to day, the British queen had many audiences
- [00:54:18.750]and boring meetings behind her,
- [00:54:22.513](speaking foreign language)
- [00:54:29.690]so at the end of the day, Vaclav Havel decided
- [00:54:33.060]to make her day brighter and funnier
- [00:54:37.120]by making an audience of his own dog by the British queen.
- [00:54:43.873](speaking foreign language) (laughing)
- [00:54:47.320]The whole office was of course scared,
- [00:54:52.330]fainting and scared about what might happen.
- [00:54:57.961](speaking foreign language)
- [00:55:09.790]And, like, all diplomatic rules were broken by this audience
- [00:55:14.340]because usually the queen is offering an audience
- [00:55:20.020]and not that the queen is asked to give audience,
- [00:55:24.580]to a dog, especially.
- [00:55:27.310](speaking foreign language)
- [00:55:37.170]And I was not allowed to take pictures,
- [00:55:40.200]but the press manager of the British queen
- [00:55:43.360]said, "Okay, let's take the picture right away."
- [00:55:48.449](speaking foreign language)
- [00:56:01.524]And I was not allowed to make this picture public,
- [00:56:08.630]and I was only allowed to develop the picture
- [00:56:13.860]and send it to Britain.
- [00:56:17.393](speaking foreign language)
- [00:56:34.892](laughing) And after three weeks
- [00:56:37.391]there came this picture back to Prague,
- [00:56:40.951]with a note that this picture
- [00:56:45.920]is the only allowed picture breaking the protocol of rules
- [00:56:51.580]where the queen is showing Her Majesty knee.
- [00:56:56.371](laughing)
- [00:56:59.309](speaking foreign language)
- [00:57:09.830]The British queen told us at this point
- [00:57:12.660]that when she was a little child
- [00:57:15.789]she was taught several hours a day how to sit properly.
- [00:57:24.275](speaking foreign language) (laughing)
- [00:57:41.692]I want to show you this picture also,
- [00:57:44.090]because it's a typical example
- [00:57:47.100]of, a nice picture of Vaclav Havel could be taken.
- [00:57:53.228](speaking foreign language)
- [00:58:13.580]Because the official protocol asked the president
- [00:58:18.278]to have an official picture with an Order of White Lion
- [00:58:25.580]and in a jacket or tuxedo--
- [00:58:30.633](speaking foreign language)
- [00:58:36.708](laughs) And when Vaclav Havel dressed up
- [00:58:39.860]and looked in the mirror, he said, "No way,
- [00:58:44.637]"I am not gonna make this picture."
- [00:58:48.307](speaking foreign language)
- [00:58:51.840]So his wife Dasa, Dagmar, at that time,
- [00:58:56.700]asked me to go to him and ask him to do it somehow.
- [00:59:05.617](speaking foreign language)
- [00:59:15.260]So I told him, "I will bring you your dog Dula,
- [00:59:20.307]"we will go to the Plecnik Hall, and you will have
- [00:59:24.077]"a perfect New Year's wish for Pavel Kohout."
- [00:59:30.138](speaking foreign language)
- [00:59:41.963]Because they have been long-lasting friends
- [00:59:46.220]with the writer Pavel Kohout, and they had a special habit
- [00:59:50.980]of sending some amusing or funny
- [00:59:56.058]New Year's wishes every year.
- [00:59:59.539](speaking foreign language)
- [01:00:07.480](laughing) So I made this photo
- [01:00:08.860]really quickly, and then we exchanged the dog
- [01:00:11.900]for his wife Dasa. (laughing)
- [01:00:16.040]And so that's how this picture--
- [01:00:19.240](speaking off camera) Came to life.
- [01:00:25.021](speaking foreign language)
- [01:00:32.899]And this is the picture in Havel's favorite place,
- [01:00:36.940]in his weekend house called Hradecek,
- [01:00:40.600]and this is on a walk with his dogs,
- [01:00:48.220]or with their dogs.
- [01:00:51.219](speaking foreign language)
- [01:00:53.720]This is Vaclav Havel was his friend, Dalai Lama.
- [01:00:56.697](speaking foreign language)
- [01:01:05.520]And here you can see the famous little carpet
- [01:01:09.500]of Dalai Lama, which was a present
- [01:01:11.950]from Dalai Lama to Vaclav Havel.
- [01:01:14.779](speaking foreign language)
- [01:01:24.870]So when Hillary Clinton came to Prague to visit,
- [01:01:29.380]she also wanted to see this carpet
- [01:01:31.880]and get some energy out of that.
- [01:01:36.334](speaking foreign language)
- [01:01:55.382]At that time, when the press manager of Hillary Clinton,
- [01:02:01.860]or of the presidential couple, found out
- [01:02:04.630]which picture was taken, he was quite desperate,
- [01:02:09.940]and he said that this picture can't come public
- [01:02:15.280]because the First Lady shouldn't show the sympathy
- [01:02:20.200]to Dalai Lama at that time.
- [01:02:23.817](speaking foreign language)
- [01:02:31.330]So this is the Clintons welcoming
- [01:02:35.111]Vaclav Havel in White House.
- [01:02:38.276](speaking foreign language)
- [01:02:42.250]And this is the famous picture
- [01:02:44.500]called Rock 'n' Roll in White House.
- [01:02:47.673](speaking foreign language)
- [01:02:55.310]This dance came after a concert
- [01:03:00.610]of Lou Reed and Mejla Hlavsa from Plastic People
- [01:03:04.797]of the Universe. (speaking foreign language)
- [01:03:12.110]And they opened their concert by a favorite song,
- [01:03:18.750]called The Best is the-- (speaking off camera)
- [01:03:24.788]Marital Sex is the Best. Marital Sex is the Best.
- [01:03:27.493](speaking off camera) (laughing)
- [01:03:31.413](speaking foreign language)
- [01:03:52.877]The audience was really rich on celebrities,
- [01:03:57.945]like (speaking foreign language), Madeleine Albright,
- [01:04:02.927]Stevie Wonder, Henry Kissinger--
- [01:04:07.465](speaking foreign language)
- [01:04:17.180]And Madeleine Albright was the first to ask Henry Kissinger
- [01:04:21.520]to dance, and afterwards everybody followed.
- [01:04:28.058](speaking foreign language)
- [01:04:54.716]Actually, this is the picture
- [01:04:55.880]of welcoming John Paul II in Prague.
- [01:05:02.989](mumbles) saying that in the year 1979,
- [01:05:06.450]when Vaclav Havel was arrested for the first time,
- [01:05:11.451]John Paul would come to Poland--
- [01:05:15.784](speaking foreign language)
- [01:05:26.435]And Vaclav Havel was very desperate
- [01:05:28.330]that there is already something going on in Poland
- [01:05:32.060]and still nothing going on in Czechoslovakia.
- [01:05:36.537](speaking foreign language)
- [01:05:44.502]And when John Paul II came for the first time
- [01:05:49.747]to Czechoslovakia, the people would call, "It's a miracle."
- [01:05:57.120](speaking foreign language)
- [01:05:59.560]And Vaclav Havel said, "Yes, it is a miracle."
- [01:06:06.582](speaking foreign language)
- [01:06:14.880]And it's the famous invitation for Dalai Lama
- [01:06:18.380]to drink tea at Havel's place.
- [01:06:22.894](speaking foreign language)
- [01:06:29.720]It's the Japan Emperor--
- [01:06:34.435](speaking foreign language)
- [01:06:36.678]Jacques Chirac drinking beer.
- [01:06:39.040](speaking foreign language)
- [01:06:44.633]Vaclav Havel was a big admirer and fan of Gina Lollobrigida.
- [01:06:49.840](speaking foreign language)
- [01:06:57.530]And Gina Lollobrigida by herself
- [01:07:00.710]also did pictures and took photographs of famous people.
- [01:07:05.738](speaking foreign language)
- [01:07:09.620]But she was so nervous of Vaclav Havel
- [01:07:12.010]that she was not able to take pictures by herself.
- [01:07:15.622](speaking foreign language)
- [01:07:19.890]Because as a right Italian lady
- [01:07:22.910]she came too late to the audience at Vaclav Havel's place.
- [01:07:27.280](speaking foreign language)
- [01:07:33.940]So she actually came in the gap
- [01:07:37.330]when there was supposed to be
- [01:07:38.830]the Estonian president already.
- [01:07:41.840](speaking foreign language)
- [01:07:45.120]And she told him, she's very nervous
- [01:07:47.460]and she can't take pictures by herself.
- [01:07:50.459](speaking foreign language)
- [01:07:53.988](laughing) So he told her
- [01:07:55.664]that he's a-- Amateur.
- [01:08:00.760]Amateur photograph by himself,
- [01:08:02.990]and he will try to do it for her.
- [01:08:06.463](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:09.601]But Vaclav Havel was really happy that he met her.
- [01:08:13.184](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:16.840]This is the sightseeing for Bruce Willis and his daughters.
- [01:08:21.760](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:27.315](laughing) And the daughters
- [01:08:28.450]were more excited of Sparta Football Club
- [01:08:32.810]than from the Prague Castle.
- [01:08:37.702](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:40.710]And this is Michael Jackson in the Spanish Hall.
- [01:08:44.919](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:47.420]This is the Brandenburger Tor, Gate.
- [01:08:50.663](speaking foreign language)
- [01:08:53.734]Yeah, Oxford, (crosstalk drowns out speaker)
- [01:08:57.259](speaking foreign language)
- [01:09:20.408]When Vaclav Havel was visiting Great Britain
- [01:09:23.430]he was supposed to meet Salman Rushdie,
- [01:09:26.370]but the British police said that it's too big security risk
- [01:09:32.545]and the meeting was canceled.
- [01:09:36.902](speaking foreign language)
- [01:09:46.850]But because Vaclav Havel was always very stubborn,
- [01:09:50.771]he wanted to meet Salman Rushdie,
- [01:09:54.170]so he asked his friend Tom Stoppard
- [01:09:57.720]and he arranged this meeting in his own private apartment.
- [01:10:04.166](speaking foreign language)
- [01:10:07.320]This is Umberto Eco in Prague. (speaking foreign language)
- [01:10:14.581]And that's the famous trumpet from Amati Kraslice
- [01:10:19.120]that we were talking about earlier.
- [01:10:23.114](speaking foreign language)
- [01:10:28.520]And this is the Order of White Lion for Mikhail Gorbachev.
- [01:10:35.927](speaking foreign language)
- [01:10:57.707]When Vaclav Havel was meeting Gorbachev in Moscow,
- [01:11:03.450]he brought him as a present a peace pipe from American--
- [01:11:10.720]Native Americans, and he wanted
- [01:11:15.683]to smoke a peace pipe with him.
- [01:11:18.928](speaking foreign language)
- [01:11:22.200]And Gorbachev answered, "Thank you, I am a nonsmoker."
- [01:11:27.722](laughing) (speaking foreign language)
- [01:11:34.930]And Vaclav Havel told me that throughout the whole audience
- [01:11:42.027]he was thinking about whether it was a joke
- [01:11:46.220]of if Gorbachev is that stupid.
- [01:11:49.374](laughing)
- [01:11:51.179](speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:07.148](speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:13.572]This is the only picture that Vaclav Havel
- [01:12:17.560]asked me to do for him.
- [01:12:21.306](speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:24.970]When we were walking through Central Park in New York,
- [01:12:29.216](speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:32.300]he stepped up on a--
- [01:12:38.020]Pedestal? Vacant.
- [01:12:40.237]Vacant. Pedestal.
- [01:12:42.898]Pedestal. (speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:48.590]And said, "Please take this picture
- [01:12:51.247]"as my message to the future."
- [01:12:55.421](speaking foreign language)
- [01:12:58.394](laughs) And don't make a statue of me.
- [01:13:01.620]It would look such a stupid as this one.
- [01:13:05.575](laughing)
- [01:13:08.839](speaking foreign language)
- [01:13:22.000]But despite his wishes, Vaclav Havel has his statue
- [01:13:26.980]in the Capitol of United States.
- [01:13:33.214](speaking foreign language)
- [01:13:35.513](applause) (translator laughs)
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