Walter Ottolenghi: On Hope in the Time of the Iron Curtain

An author’s presentation of a book that contains riveting testimonies of the clandestine journeys of dozens of young Italians from the Catholic movement Comunione e Liberazione from the late 1960s to the late 1980s to help Christians behind the Iron Curtain. Most space is devoted to visits to Bohemia and Moravia, including countless stories and encounters with a wide range of our dissidents, from Josef Zvěřina to Václav Havel. One of the fruits of these friendships was the world’s first print edition of Havel’s The Power of the Powerless (and this was translated into Italian in 1979 by the CISL Forlì publishing house). The passages devoted to other countries are also of particular interest: thanks to the contacts of the author and his friends with Poland, for example, Karol Wojtyła was among the shortlist of candidates for the papacy in 1978. His election marked the beginning of the end of the Communist regimes.

Walter Ottolenghi (Milan, 1948) taught at the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague from 1972-73. He has held managerial and senior positions in Italian and international financial companies and executive positions in professional and trade associations.

Free admission. Limited capacity. We suggest booking your place below on this site. The programme will be held in Italian with simultaneous translation into Czech and German.