Václav Havel Library – Announcement for the Library Team, Partners, Supporters, and Board Members

Dear employees, supporters, and partners of the Václav Havel Library,

This year marks 22 years since we actively engaged in building the Václav Havel Library – working from the very beginning alongside our friend, Václav Havel, and his wife, Dagmar. We embarked on this shared journey as a strategic partner, subsequently contributing to the management and funding of the Library for more than two decades. We have always felt deeply honored by this opportunity and trust.

Thanks to the efforts and support of us all, the Václav Havel Library has become a respected and well-established institution that helps preserve and actively promote Václav Havel's legacy and ideas, both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Supporting democracy, education, free media, and an active civil society – values that Václav Havel embodied – has always been, and will continue to be, one of the core pillars of our family philanthropy.

However, regarding the Václav Havel Library, we have come to the conclusion that its current management and operation no longer align with our established agreements and the principles of mutual cooperation.

Consequently, we have decided to step down from this role to allow new partners to participate in the future development of the Václav Havel Library – partners who will bring their own vision and assume responsibility for its execution. We have fulfilled this role in the past, and we will honor our commitments through this year, as we commemorate what would have been Václav Havel’s 90th birthday.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who has contributed and continues to contribute to the activities of the Václav Havel Library – especially to you, the employees, collaborators, members of the governing, supervisory, and advisory boards, donors, and supporters – for your hard work, dedication, and long-term loyalty.

We wish the Václav Havel Library every success in continuing to fulfill its mission in the future with the same energy and dignity that have long defined it.

Michaela and Zdeněk Bakala