Havel funeral rekindles civic unity

If there was ever any doubt as to Václav Havel's international renown, the turnout at his Dec. 23 memorial service at St. Vitus Cathedral answered those questions.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and UK Prime Minister David Cameron were among those in attendance.

But even more starkly, a full week of mourning by the Czech public showed that Havel was still capable of inspiring a sense of civic unity, something seemingly forgotten.  

"I got this sense that everyone here thinks they can have a jab at him," Havel's friend, Marta Kubišová, whose freedom anthem Modlitba pro Martu (Prayer for Marta) has seen a rebirth in recent days. "Now, suddenly, it's completely different. Young people, everyone is bringing him candles."

In an outpouring of grief and gratitude, thousands lined up in the streets of Prague to pay their respects to Havel, whose coffin lay on display at Old Town's Prague Crossroads - a church Havel had converted into a cultural center - Dec. 20-21. On the following day, approximately 10,000 people accompanied the coffin in a procession across Charles Bridge to the gates of Prague Castle. After the funeral a day later, when a black Mercedes drove out of those gates to transport Havel's remains to the Strašnice Crematorium, the crowd outside broke into applause and jangled keys in a spontaneous reenactment of a 1989 tradition.

The Dec. 20-23 official period of national mourning saw virtually every appropriate nook in the country transform into a Havel shrine. Candles, flowers and letters were laid on church steps, under awnings and in the center of town squares. The Dec. 23 funeral ceremony proceeded with pomp rivaling that of famed statesman Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of independent Czechoslovakia.

Around 1,000 Czech politicians, foreign heads of state, clergy members, family and friends attended the mass at St. Vitus Cathedral.

While foreign powers were heavily represented, all the funeral speeches took place in Havel's native tongue. The list of speakers included President Václav Klaus, Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, and Czech-born former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka celebrated the Mass, joined by Vatican envoy Monsignor Giuseppe Leanza, who read a special message from Pope Benedict XVI.

Duka reflected on the days he and Havel spent together as political prisoners during communism, playing chess in their jail cell while Duka covertly provided religious counsel.

"Now, you're no longer thinking about the great chessboard of the world, and I am celebrating a Mass here, grateful for the time we spent together during incarceration then and for liberty now," he said.

Klaus, who frequently locked horns with Havel during their overlapping time in politics, reminded citizens of the importance of fighting for freedom. He emphasized the necessity of promoting true yet unpopular opinions, in an apparent allusion to his own controversial views. Unlike the other speakers, who were applauded by a crowd that had gathered to watch the ceremony on a big screen in one of the castle courtyards, Klaus' words were met with silence.

It was Havel's friend and one-time adviser Schwarzenberg whose speech best captured the spirit of the funeral. Instead of focusing on his many achievements, Schwarzenberg focused on the ordinary people who united around Havel in difficult times.

"Anyone who worked with Havel, even [the underground rockers], called him Chief. He was a chief out of his very substance. All it took was for him to be present."

As noon bells rang out from every church in Prague's historic quarters and sirens blared to mark the beginning of the funeral ceremony and a nationwide moment of silence, the unity Havel inspired among ordinary citizens was palpable at every turn. Several thousand people had gathered inside the castle's first courtyard and the adjoining Hradčanské náměstí, watching on screens, and, in many cases, quietly weeping.

"He impressed me from the moment I first read his Open Letter to [communist President] Gustáv Husák in an underground magazine," said Karla Vladíková, 43, displaying the same tricolored ribbon on her lapel she once wore to the 1989 demonstrations. "I am grateful I got the opportunity to live in the same time as this remarkable persona."

The crowd included dissidents and politicians like former Slovak Prime Minister Ján Čarnogurský, a dissident and Christian activist who served in politics with Havel during the years of the changeover, until the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993.

"I considered it my moral duty to come here," he said. "Havel achieved the fall of communism, which was the joint affair of both Slovaks and Czechs."

When the sound of a siren moaned over the concerto of church bells, many in the crowd shivered and whispered prayers.

"The sun of our lives has left us," said a sobbing middle-aged woman, Eva Krejčíková of Prague. "He meant everything - liberty, unity, democracy - everything good."

A similar reference was echoed in Albright's address, in which she reflected on Havel's ability to "bring light into places of deepest darkness."

Havel's death rekindled a global discussion about his legacy and its application in an era of leaderless civic uprisings and economic recession. Pro-democracy activists from Burma, Belarus, Cuba and China offered condolences, reflecting on Havel's promotion of "the power of the powerless."

"As far as we know, the last letter Havel wrote in his life was a letter to political prisoners in Belarus," said Iryna Vidanava, a Belarusian civic leader and underground magazine publisher. "We don't know if his letters will ever reach those who are in prison, but I'm sure it meant a lot not only to them but to many Belarusians."

After cremation, Havel's remains were taken to the family crypt at Olšany Cemetery in Prague 3.   

Hours after the cremation, artists and culture lovers poured into Prague's Lucerna Palace for a final tribute featuring Havel's plays, film screenings and a musical performance led by The Plastic People of the Universe, the psychedelic rock band whose 1976 arrest helped spark the Charter 77 movement. Meanwhile, Czech Television covered a Facebook debate in which one user asked, "Will this outpouring of truth and love last, or will it disappear in tomorrow's push and shove in the supermarkets?"

Elsewhere in cyberspace, a group of petitioners epitomized Havel's civic-minded legacy by advocating the renaming of Prague Ruzyně Airport to Václav Havel Airport.

As of press time, the petition at Letistevaclavahavla.cz had more than 55,000 signatures.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at
features@praguepost.com