Olga Havlová

Olga Havlová
First Lady of the Czech republic
In office 1989 – 1996 (died)
Succeeded by	Dagmar Havlová
Personal details
Born	Olga Šplíchalová 11 July 1933(1933-07-11) Žižkov, Prague
Died	27 January 1996(1996-01-27) (aged 62) Prague
Resting place	Vinohrady cemetery, Prague
Nationality	Czechoslovak, Czech
Spouse(s)	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 later became an important source of support for her husband during his anticommunist fight to overthrow the socialist state.^[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 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]

See also

• Letters to Olga

References and notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} "::.Václav Havel.::The official website of Vaclav Havel, writer, dramatist, dissident, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, former president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic". Vaclavhavel.cz. http://www.vaclavhavel.cz/index.php?sec=1&id=5&page=1&setln=2. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 
2. ^ FG Forrest – Creative Technologies, www.fg.cz, [e-mail], 1996–2009 (5 March 2003). "Curriculum Vitae – Prague Castle". Hrad.cz. http://hrad.cz/en/prezident_cr/havel.shtml. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 

Persondata
Name	Havlová, Olga
Alternative names
Short description	First Lady of the Czech Republic, 1989-1996
Date of birth	11 June 1933
Place of birth	Žižkov, Prague
Date of death	27 January 1996
Place of death	Prague