![]() ![]() She learned to speak French while in Switzerland and changed her name from Marie Jana to Madeleine. Korbel was concerned his daughter would be exposed to Marxism in a Yugoslav school, and so she was taught privately by a governess before being sent to the Prealpina Institut pour Jeunes Filles finishing school in Chexbres, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Korbel was appointed as press attaché at Czechoslovakian Embassy in Yugoslavia, and the family moved to Belgrade-then part of Yugoslavia-which was governed by the Communist Party. Īfter the defeat of the Nazis in the European theatre of World War II and the collapse of Nazi Germany and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the Korbel family returned to Prague. While in England, Marie Jana was one of the children shown in a documentary film designed to promote sympathy for war refugees in London. They kept a large metal table in the house, which was intended to shelter the family from the recurring threat of German air raids. Her family first lived on Kensington Park Road in Notting Hill, London-where they endured the worst of the Blitz-but later moved to Beaconsfield, then Walton-on-Thames, on the outskirts of London. Here her father worked for Beneš's Czechoslovak government-in-exile. In 1997, Albright said her parents never told her or her two siblings about their Jewish ancestry and heritage. Marie Jana and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Josef and Anna converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1941. The signing of the Munich Agreement in September 1938-and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia by Adolf Hitler's troops-forced the family into exile because of their links with Beneš. When Marie Jana was born, her father was serving as a press-attaché at the Czechoslovak Embassy in Belgrade. Marie Jana had a younger sister Katherine and a younger brother John (these versions of their names are Anglicized). Her father was a supporter of Tomáš Masaryk and Edvard Beneš. At the time of Albright's birth, Czechoslovakia had been independent for less than 20 years, having gained independence from Austria-Hungary after World War I. Her parents were Josef Körbel, a Czech diplomat, and Anna Körbel (née Spieglová). Early life and careerĪlbright was born Marie Jana Körbelová in 1937 in the Smíchov district of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Albright served on the board of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in May 2012. Secretary Albright served in that capacity until President Clinton left office in 2001.Īlbright served as chair of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a consulting firm, and was the Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. She was appointed United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997, a position she held until her elevation as secretary of state. Following the 1992 presidential election, Albright helped assemble President Bill Clinton's National Security Council. Īfter leaving the National Security Council, Albright joined the academic faculty of Georgetown University in 1982 and advised Democratic candidates regarding foreign policy. She served in that position until 1981 when President Jimmy Carter left office. She worked as an aide to Senator Edmund Muskie from 1976 to 1978, before serving as a staff member on the National Security Council under Zbigniew Brzezinski. Albright graduated from Wellesley College in 1959 and earned a PhD from Columbia University in 1975, writing her thesis on the Prague Spring. Her father, diplomat Josef Korbel, settled the family in Denver, Colorado, and she became a U.S. īorn in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Albright immigrated to the United States after the 1948 communist coup d'état when she was eleven years old. ![]() A member of the Democratic Party, Albright was the first woman to hold that post. Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Körbelová, later Korbelová – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. ![]()
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