OverviewOn October 5, 1936, Václav Havel was born to Václav Maria Havel and Božena Vavrečková, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. His father was a restaurateur and property owner. Havel grew up in luxury, with servants, fancy cars and elegant homes (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). But, once the communists took power, his family's money and property were confiscated (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). Due to the Communist takeover, Havel and his brother, Ivan M. Havel, were deprived of higher education, but Havel found a way around the situation and went to night school (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). Havel took a full-time job as a laboratory assistant and served in the Czech army (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). As he served in the army, Havel's interest in the theater grew, and his first wife, Olga Šplíchalová, helped his writing career (“Vaclav Havel.” Gale, 2004). His first wife died and he soon married Dagmar Veškrnová, ("Havel, Vaclav 1936-."). He attended the technical institute and the art academy ("Havel, Vaclav 1936-."). Havel was a member of many different groups, including the International PEN, the Writers' Union, the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, and the Committee for the Defense of the Unjustly Persecuted, otherwise known as VONS ("Havel, Vaclav 1936- ." ). He was the last president of Czechoslovakia, from 1989 to 1992, and the first president of the Czech Republic, from 1993 to 2003. On December 18, 2011, at the age of 75, Václav Havel died in Vlčice, Czech Republic. VisionHavel was a unique kind of president. Not only was he head of state, but he was also a writer of great clarity and eloquence (Havel, Václav). He was influenced by the playwrights of the Theater of the Absurd (Havel, Václav). He wrote about......middle of paper......ns as a visionary for today's world.Works CitedHavel, Václav. Summer meditations. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Print."Havel, Vaclav 1936-." Contemporary theatre, cinema and television. Ed. Kathleen J. Edgar. Vol.16. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. 121-123. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. February 15, 2014."Vaclav Havel." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. World History in Context. Network. February 15, 2014. "Vaclav Havel." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 202-205. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Network. February 15, 2014."Václav Havel, President of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, 1989--1992."The Cold War--1945-1991. Gale, 1992. World History in Context. Network. February 15, 2014."Václav Havel trials: 1977-89." Great world trials. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. World History in Context. Network. February 15. 2014.