Europe
Czechoslovakia: Refugees Who Became U.S. Diplomats
From Czechoslovakia to the service of the United States.
Two dictatorships
Czechoslovakia was dismembered by Nazi Germany in 1938 and 1939. After the war, the Communist coup of February 1948 brought a new dictatorship, and thousands fled west, among them the families of a future Secretary of State and a future ambassador.
1968 and after
The Soviet-led invasion of August 1968 crushed the Prague Spring and sent tens of thousands more into exile. Escape remained dangerous until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Some families left under cover of holidays in Yugoslavia and made their way to Western camps.
Diplomats from Czechoslovakia
Madeleine Korbel AlbrightTwice a refugee as a child, she became the first woman to serve as Secretary of State.Rudolf V. PerinaSmuggled across the Czechoslovak border as a child; later led U.S. missions across Europe.Martina Anna Tkadlec StrongEscaped Czechoslovakia on a family 'vacation,' waited in a camp near Belgrade, and became ambassador to the UAE.