Madeleine Albright
She is an American politician and the first female Secretary of State of the United States from 1997 to 2001. She was however born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1937 and she is the daughter of the Czech diplomat Josef Korbel. In the memoir, she accounts her personal and family history in Czechoslovakia prior to, during, and after the Second World War. She also delves into the history and politics of the country during this period of unrest and power struggle. Albright discloses her Jewish heritage that remained a secret even to her into her adulthood. She charts her migration to Britain for the duration of the war and the relocation to her origin country. Moreover, the eventual migration into the United States as her family settled in Denver, Colorado in 1948 and later gaining her citizenship in 1957.
Josef Korbel
Madeleine Albright’s father was a Czech diplomat of Jewish descent and worked alongside Edvard Beneš’ administration. He served as the nation’s ambassador to Yugoslavia and advisor to Beneš. The Nazi invasion in 1939 forced him and his family to flee to England due to his political affiliation and Jewish heritage. In England, he converted the family into Catholicism and changed their names to protect themselves during the war. He served the government-in-exile while in England until the end of the war after which he relocated his family back to Prague. He later became a delegate to the United Nations Commission.
Edvard Beneš
Beneš was a Czech statesman who served as President of the nation from 1935 until the German occupation in 1938. He continued to lead the government-in-exile through World War II. His presidency resumed after the war until the communist coup of 1948. In both crises during his administration, he was forced to resign. Albright delves into the Czech politician to highlight more about aspects less known to the public and key moments in his career.
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
Masaryk is a significant figure in Albright’s memoir as he served as the first president of Czechoslovakia. He founded the nation with other key figures namely Edvard Beneš and Milan Rastislav Štefánik. He gained independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Great War contributing to his name “President Liberator”. He passed away the same year Albright was born and succeeded by Beneš as president.
