„So I went to the Rossija hotel, there was that annoying receptionist. I told her, Good morning, could you please tell me on which floor the Czech delegation will be staying?’ She picked such a big book and told me: Third floor, two persons, seventh floor, one person, twelfth floor, four persons.’ So I just said ‘Do svidaniya, spasibo’ and went away. We wouldn’t even leave for that hotel, the communication was horrible. I needed to sort it out somehow. And there was one thing that happened during my time at the Castle, I never really saw myself as Sagittarius, a sign under which I was born, it was not really needed. But in the advance teams, there were situations when things had to be decided, sorted out, acted upon and get done and in Russia, something just changed in me. I have to admit that they really helped us in the Czech House in Moscow. They moved into half of their rooms and they left the other half for the presidential delegation. We were staying in two villas but there wasn’t enough space for us, I spent my nights on a pool table.”
„And that doctor examined Václav Havel. But Tibetan medicine is such a thing that takes years. It’s sort of slow and gradual. The results are fantastic but it doesn’t work in such a way that it would work overnight. It’s not actually miracles and probably only a miracle would help. Possibly not even one. There was such a situation, when a the Borromean Sister came, she cared for Václav Havel. She said, ‚Mr. President, you need to eat something.‘ She brought a cheese sandwich. He looked at me an asked: ‚Would you want some, too?’ ‘Gladly,’ I answered. So we sat there and ate a cheese sandwich. That was the last time I saw Václav Havel. We were supposed to go to Hrádeček with a Tibetan doctor but we did not manage to. There were debates about the best time to go but then it was late. When we last met, though, Václav Havel was stick thin. As if he was not in that body any more.“
„Meditation in Lány was noteworthy. I think Václav Havel really wanted it this way. I’ve said that I don’t know what Václav Havel’s attitude towards buddhism was but here, it was apparent, even without any specific shape or form. Despite that, Václav Havel felt that there was something that could be useful for him. And the Dalai Lama is that man who could convey it. We even heard that it was one of the main goals of his visit, to sorts of calm down Václav Havel, if I can put it this way.”
“So I came there on a Saturday morning and John Bok told me: ‘I won’t be needing you today, there’s that Letná, I have that settled up. That‘s cool there. I need someone for Havels’ place.’ I did not know Václav Havel, apart from Jirka Černý, I did not know anyone even in the Civic Forum. Despite that, they sent me to Havels’ home, I guess I had a trustworthy face. My job was to be practically a doorman. Because there were all sorts of people going to and fro, all the time, someone knocked the door or rang the bell. People started coming from abroad, Honza Tříska came, plenty of people of all sorts, émigrés, foreigners. Paul Wilson from the Plastic People of Universe came. I was standing there and kept saying, ‘Good morning, what can I do for you, wait here, I’m going to ask. Then I went inside, mostly to ask Olga Havlová, and asked her what to do.”
Alexandr Neuman was born on the 16th November in 1958 in Cheb. His father was an officer in the Czechoslovak People’s army, his mother had studied at a secondary school of chemistry. His grandfather, Alois Neuman, served as the Minister of Posts, and Minister of the Interior in the Communist cabinets between 1948 and 1968. Alexandr Neuman studied at a secondary school between 1974 and 1978, he studied at a high school, between 1978 and 1982, he studied at the Faculty of Journalism of the Charles University in Prague. After having served in the army, he mostly wrote about music. In November 1989, he joined the Civic Forum and soon after, he became the personal secretary of VH. He worked for him for five years, he managed his foreign travels, he was in charge of organistaion of the first visit of the Dalai Lama in Czechoslovakia in 1990. Between 1995 and 1997, he worked as the manager of Respekt magazine. Then, he started freelancing. He wrote articles for newspapers, magazines and websites, he translated books. In 2020, he lived in Prague.
After returning to journalism, Alexandr Neuman is interviewing the American singer, Sheryl Crow in Berlin. End of the 1990's. Photograph: Tomáš Martinek.
After returning to journalism, Alexandr Neuman is interviewing the American singer, Sheryl Crow in Berlin. End of the 1990's. Photograph: Tomáš Martinek.
Divadlo Na zábradlí [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the 2009 visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. From the left: Oldřich Černý (1946-2013), Václav Havel (1936-2011), Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) a Alexandr Neuman (born 1958).
Divadlo Na zábradlí [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the 2009 visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. From the left: Oldřich Černý (1946-2013), Václav Havel (1936-2011), Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) a Alexandr Neuman (born 1958).
Alexandr Neuman with Olga Havlová and his long-time partner, Lucie Svobodová, during holidays on Menorca in 1991.
Alexandr Neuman with Olga Havlová and his long-time partner, Lucie Svobodová, during holidays on Menorca in 1991.
photo: archiv Alexandra Neumanazleva Oldřich Černý (1946-2013), Václav Havel (1936-2011), TendzinGjamccho (nar. 1935) a S.N. (nar. 1958), divadlo Na Zábradlí, 2009A
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Alexandr Neuman with the Chief of the Prague Castle police unit, Antonín Maněna, at the airport. First half of the 1900's.
Alexandr Neuman with the Chief of the Prague Castle police unit, Antonín Maněna, at the airport. First half of the 1900's.
Walk from the church of St. Anne to the Na zábradlí theatre [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the Dalai Lama's visit to Prague in 2009. Alexandr Neuman on far right. Still from a document by Peter Jančárek.
Walk from the church of St. Anne to the Na zábradlí theatre [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the Dalai Lama's visit to Prague in 2009. Alexandr Neuman on far right. Still from a document by Peter Jančárek.
![Alexandr Neumann at the drums in the band Karneval chorobných duší [Carnival of Sick Souls].](https://www.memoryofnations.eu/sites/default/files/2020-12/17.jpg)
![Divadlo Na zábradlí [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the 2009 visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. From the left: Oldřich Černý (1946-2013), Václav Havel (1936-2011), Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) a Alexandr Neuman (born 1958).](https://www.memoryofnations.eu/sites/default/files/2020-12/43.jpg)
![Walk from the church of St. Anne to the Na zábradlí theatre [Theatre on the Balustrade] during the Dalai Lama's visit to Prague in 2009. Alexandr Neuman on far right. Still from a document by Peter Jančárek.](https://www.memoryofnations.eu/sites/default/files/2020-12/42.jpg)
