Human Rights and Václav Havel
The “Human Rights” workshop introduces students to the concept of Human Rights through interactive activities and places it in the context of Czechoslovak history. Using the example of the life of Václav Havel, the students will discover how the Human Rights were denied in Czechoslovakia during the totalitarian communist regime and how people can stand up and fight for Human Rights. The students will also realize that restrictions on Human Rights are not only a matter of history. At the end of the workshop, students are invited to reflect on how violations of Human Rights can be addressed today and how inspiration can be drawn from the past.
Objective:
Students will learn about Václav Havel and they will become familiar with the concept of Human Rights. They will also learn about the communist regime in Czechoslovakia (1948 – 1989).
Target group: Pupils of the 8th and 9th grades of primary schools and secondary school students; maximum capacity: one class.
Duration: 90 minutes
Date: Scheduled individually based on agreement between the teacher and the lecturer.
Location: Václav Havel Library, Ostrovní 13, Prague 1
Price: 200 CZK / student, accompanying teachers free of charge
Booking: vzdelavani@vaclavhavel.cz
Cross-curricular themes
- Education for thinking in European and global contexts
- Personal and social education
Subjects
- Civics
- History
Workshop lecturer
Veronika Pikola Brázdilová studied at Sciences Po Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies). After her studies she worked at the Representation of the European Commission in Prague, and since 2013 she has been part of the Václav Havel Library team. In 2024 she represented the Library as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in the United States, working at the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas. During her travels across the United States in 2015 and 2024, she visited all U.S. presidential libraries.