Prezident Václav Havel o návštěvách rezidence USA v Praze

Rozhovor s prezidentem Václavem Havlem o návštěvách rezidence velvyslance USA v době před rokem 1989. Natočeno v lednu 2010. Více informací o rezidenci najdete na stránce velvyslanectví czech.prague.usembassy.gov/ambassadors_residence.h…. Do 31. března 2013 můžete navštívit v Národním technickém muzeu v Praze výstavu "Rezidence Otto Petschka" www.ntm.cz/expozice/vystavy. Former President Václav Havel recalls visits of the U.S. Ambassador residence in Prague during communism. "Just like the other embassies from the West, the Americans always grappled with how to invite the official representatives and the dissidents together because the officials said they wouldn't go if those other people were there. So they came up with various ideas -- well, those were the problems they faced." Even though the secret police kept the residence and the embassy under constant watch before the 1989 revolution, U.S. diplomats regularly met with Czech dissidents and organized opportunities for them to meet with U.S. artists. "Ambassador Luers and Mrs. Luers are particularly ingrained in my memory and worth mentioning. They were here in the 1980s and tried to very actively support unofficial cultural liaisons like this. Thanks to them, many famous American authors such as Kurt Vonnegut came here, and they organized our meetings with them or with various other stars. It was something normal in this environment of abnormality that surrounded the dissidents, when people were afraid to be in contact with them or even say hello to them. Meeting with our Western colleagues was something natural."

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