Jiří Hájek (; 6 June 1913 in Krhanice near

Benešov Benešov (; german: Beneschau; also known as Benešov u Prahy) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the Konopiště Castle. Administrative parts Villages of Baba, ...

– 22 October 1993 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

politician and diplomat. Together with

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

, Zdeněk Mlynář, and

Pavel Kohout Pavel Kohout (born 20 July 1928) is a Czech and Austrian novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a member of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, a Prague Spring participant and dissident in the 1970s until he was not allowed to return from Au ...

, Hájek was one of the founding members and architects of

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and 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 and architects were Jiří Něm ...

Early political career

Hájek studied and worked as a lawyer in the Charles University. 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

(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 Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

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 an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

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

minister of foreign affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

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 The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

. Together with

, Zdeněk Mlynář, and

, 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 moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. 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 Slovak politician who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czechoslovak ...

(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