Olga Havlová
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Olga Havlová
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| In office 1989 – 2003 (died 1996) |
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| Succeeded by | Dagmar Havlová |
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| Born | June 11, 1933 Žižkov, Prague |
| Died | January 27, 1996 Prague |
| Resting place | Vinohrady cemetery, Prague |
| Birth name | Olga Šplíchalová |
| Nationality | Czechoslovak, Czech |
| Spouse | Václav Havel |
| Children | None |
Olga Havlová, née Šplíchalová (11 June 1933 Prague – 27 January 1996 Prague), was the first wife of Václav Havel, the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic. [1]
Olga Šplíchalová was born in the poor district Žižkov, Prague. After completing primary school she worked in the factory of Tomáš Baťa. From 1961 to 1969 she worked as an usher in the Theatre on the Balustrade, where Václav Havel was also active. They had first met in 1956. She married Václav Havel in 1964. [1] She would later become an important source of support for her husband during his fight for justice. [2]
Olga Havlová 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 Persecuted with her husband; beginning in that year, when her husband was imprisoned in June, she also led the samizdat Edice Expedice (Dispatch Series). In 1990 she founded the The Committee of Good Will, which supports people with mental disabilities. She died of cancer in 1996. For "outstanding contributions for democracy and human rights", she was posthumously awarded the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in 1997. [1]
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