The possible collapse of the Vaclav Havel Library has sparked a wider debate about how to approach the legacy of Czechia’s first president and democratic icon – as his widow revokes her consent for his name to be used.
Jules Eisenchteter
For his part, Sedlacek – who previously said he was considering a presidential run in 2027 – has been defiant throughout, vowing not to resign under any circumstances and praising his track-record at the helm of the institution.
Describing his surprise at the recent exodus, which could nevertheless provide the starting ground for a “new beginning” according to him, Sedlacek said he repeatedly offered to resign over the past year only to be told to stay on, hinting that “someone powerful has brought a terrible mess into this”.
According to him, part of the backlash comes from his attempts to “modernise” Havel’s legacy and find other ways for the institution to be partly self-sustainable from a financial point of view “and not take money from grants or polish the handles of billionaires”.
“I would like it to work like Foucault’s pendulum: one part is profitable, which then feeds the non-profit part, making it a non-profit organisation,” Sedlacek explained in an interview with Seznam Zpravy.
He also dismissed accusations of commercialising the legacy of Czechoslovakia’s pro-democracy icon, pointing out that the library “has been selling Vaclav Havel t-shirts for about 12 years” along with books, pencils and more.
As some commentators have pointed out, there are deeper conflicts underpinning the current crisis, with the backlash against Sedlacek merely “a proxy dispute” hiding the real sticking point: that is, “the power that the president’s widow, Dagmar Havlova, holds within the library”, according to Denik N.
As the journalist Petr Fischer highlights, recent developments find their source in the very internal structure of the Vaclav Havel Library, “in which the heiress has the decisive say in practically everything while the donors acting on the board of directors were merely suppliers of operating capital”.
“As long as donor money flowed into the institution, all the problems and internal disputes could be more or less overcome,” Fischer argued, believing that this began changing with the arrival of Sedlacek – along with his “charisma and strong public ego” – which, possibly, provided “a convenient excuse to legitimately withdraw from the project”.
Czech Radio commentator Ondrej Konrad echoes this view, arguing that Havlova “has had an ambivalent relationship with the library for a long time” and “did not show much interest in the institution”, especially after Havel’s death in 2011.
Other internal sources suggested in the media that the library has now been operating for years in spite of former first lady Havlova rather than with her full support.
