Prince Karel Schwarzenberg died in Vienna at the age of 85, it was announced on Sunday. He was head of President Vaclav Havel’s office, head of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, member of parliament and senator, and one of the founders of the Polish-Czech Dialogue Forum. Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
Schwarzenberg, who uses a wheelchair, was transported from Prague to a hospital in Vienna a few days ago; there he told journalists: “I don’t think there are more specialists here than in the Czech Republic. I think it will be the same, but here I will be able to see my children and grandchildren.” He died surrounded by his family.
He was born in 1937 into a noble family. Her father was Czech and her mother Austrian, née Duchess of Furstenberg; his family owned the palace, which currently houses the Polish embassy in Prague.
During World War II, the family’s property was confiscated by the Gestapo. After the communists took power in 1948, dispossessed families emigrated.
After the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in 1968, Schwarzenberg began supporting emigrants from Czechoslovakia. In one of his castles he founded the Czechoslovak Documentation Center – an archive of prohibited literature. In 1984, he became chairman of the International Helsinki Human Rights Committee and supported, among others, Polish dissidents.
He was a friend of Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity. Schwarzenberg understood how important the unity of the people of Central Europe was in building its independence and sovereignty. “Only together can we be an Entity and we have the power to express our views and aspirations,” Paweł Skrzywanek of Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity told PAP.
After the fall of communism in 1989, Schwarzenberg returned to Czechoslovakia. He became head of the office of the country’s first president, Vaclav Havel. He supports civil society. He saved independent media at his own expense. He co-founded the Tradition Responsible Prosperity 09 (TOP09) party, which is currently part of the government dinner.
In 2013, he decided to run in the first presidential elections in the Czech Republic. Only in the second round did he lose to Milosz Zeman.
Former head of the Polish Institute in Prague, currently Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Bratislava, Maciej Ruczaj said: “A great friend of Central European cooperation has died, he defended it even in times of the greatest disagreements. He stressed that we are different in Central Europe (and therefore we avoid moralistic and simplistic judgments of others) and at the same time we are united by a common destiny.
In 2007-2009 and again in 2010-2013 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Together with the head of Polish diplomacy at that time, Radosław Sikorski, he founded the Polish-Czech Forum.
The prince will be remembered, among other things, as a friend of Poland and a supporter of Czech-Polish cooperation.
Former head of the Polish Institute in Prague, currently Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Bratislava, Maciej Ruczaj said: “A great friend of Central European cooperation has died, he defended it even in times of the greatest disagreements. He stressed that we are different in Central Europe (and therefore we avoid moralistic and simplistic judgments of others) and at the same time we are united by a common destiny.
In one of his interviews in 2021, Schwarzenberg pointed out that the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938) made a big mistake by having bad relations with Poland.
In 1918, the newly founded Czechoslovak state banned the use of noble and noble titles. Despite this, friends, colleagues and journalists addressed Schwarzenberg and spoke and wrote about him in public spaces – “Prince”. He himself entered “Forester and Hotelier” in the profession field on his KTP.
From Prague Piotr Gorecki (PAP)
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“Reader. Future teen idol. Falls down a lot. Amateur communicator. Incurable student.”
