Jiří Hájek (; 6 June 1913 in Krhanice near Benešov – 22 October 1993 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a Czech politician and diplomat. Together with

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

, Zdeněk Mlynář, and Pavel Kohout, Hájek was one of the founding members and architects of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

Early political career

Hájek studied and worked as a lawyer in the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

. From a young age he was a member of the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Hájek was imprisoned (1939–1945). After the war he became a member of parliament for the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party (1945–1948) and probably also a secret member of the Communist Party (code name E-22). During 1948 – 1969 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, during 1950 – 1953 he was the rector of the University of Economics.

Diplomacy

From 1955 Hájek worked in diplomacy: in 1955–1958 as an ambassador in Britain, in 1958–1962 as a deputy of the minister of foreign affairs, and in 1962–1965 he represented Czechoslovakia in

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Between 1965 and 1968 he was the minister of education. From April to September 1968, he served as the

minister of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in Dubček's government. After the Soviet Union army took control over Czechoslovakia (21 August 1968) he protested against this in a speech at the United Nations (where he used the word ''occupation'') – this caused his dismissal from high offices and even from the communist party (1970).

Charter 77

Until 1973 Hájek worked in the Historical Institute of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Together with

, Zdeněk Mlynář, and Pavel Kohout, Hájek was one of the founding members and architects of

. Jiří Hájek emerged as one of three leading spokesmen of Charter 77, thus becoming the target of police interrogations and threats. He was a strong defender of this uncompromising document, which voiced the principles of universal

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. In 1987, Hájek was awarded the first ever Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize. After the fall of socialism in Czechoslovakia (1989) Hájek served as an advisor of

Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovaks, Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czech ...

(1990–1992) but was unable to obtain significant political influence.

Death

He died of an unspecified cancer on 22 October 1993.

External links

Biography at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (in Czech)

Biography (in Czech)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hajek, Jiri 1913 births 1993 deaths People from Benešov District People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech Social Democratic Party politicians National Labour Party (1938) politicians Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Foreign ministers of Czechoslovakia Government ministers of Czechoslovakia Members of the Interim National Assembly of Czechoslovakia Members of the National Assembly of Czechoslovakia (1948–1954) Permanent representatives of Czechoslovakia to the United Nations Ambassadors of Czechoslovakia to the United Kingdom Czechoslovak diplomats Charter 77 signatories People of the Velvet Revolution Charles University alumni