Themes
They Went Back: Serving Where They Once Fled
Diplomats who returned, as Americans, to the region they escaped.
Coming full circle
Some former refugees later returned to the places they had fled, this time representing the United States. They brought language, cultural knowledge, and a personal understanding of what was at stake.
- Anne Pham served at the U.S. missions in Vietnam and Laos.
- Mustafa Popal served in Kabul and later worked the 2021 evacuation from Kabul's airport.
- Rahima Kandahari made Kabul her final overseas tour, returning to the country she left as a young refugee.
- Ints Siliņš became the first U.S. ambassador to independent Latvia.
- Roman Popadiuk became the first U.S. ambassador to independent Ukraine.
- Rudolf Perina served as chargé d'affaires in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- Martina Strong served in Prague.
- Henry Grunwald, who fled Vienna after the Anschluss, returned as U.S. ambassador to Austria.
- Nicholas Rey, whose family fled Poland in 1939, returned as U.S. ambassador to Poland.
- Robert Neumann, a survivor of Nazi persecution in Austria, later served as U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
Profiles
Anne D. PhamCarried out of Saigon at age three on a barge under rocket fire; later served at the U.S. missions in Vietnam and Laos.Mustafa M. PopalFled Kabul after the Soviet invasion and returned to the same airport to help run the 2021 evacuation.Ints M. SiliņšEscaped Soviet-occupied Latvia as a toddler, grew up a displaced person, and became the first U.S. ambassador to free Latvia.Roman PopadiukBorn in a postwar displaced persons camp to Ukrainian parents, he became the first U.S. ambassador to independent Ukraine.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.Henry A. GrunwaldFled Vienna after the Anschluss and returned decades later as U.S. ambassador to Austria.Rahima KandahariA young political refugee from Afghanistan who became the first Afghan American woman Foreign Service officer.Sulaiman ToghralLeft Taliban-ruled Afghanistan at nine and, as a U.S. diplomat, helped process Afghan evacuees in 2021.