death of, 305
and lend-lease, 182–83, 185
and neutrality, 118–19
at Yalta, 301–5, 302
Rossel, Maurice, 272, 274–75
Royal Air Force (RAF), 83, 152, 169, 171, 172, 181
Royal Navy, 84, 96, 153, 168
Runciman, Walter, Lord of Doxford, 84, 85
Ruthenia, 45
Saint-Exupéry, Antoine de, 152
Saint Vitus Cathedral, Prague, 21
Sarajevo, assassination in, 40
Schiff, Vera, 255
Schiller, Friedrich, 75
Schwenk, Karel, 268
Shakespeare, William, 20
Shelley, Norman, 154n
Shirer, William, 172
Sikorski, Władysław, 293
Silesia, industries in, 34
Silva, Katherine, see Korbelová, Katherine
Šima, Vladimir, 403
Simpson, Wallis, 68
Slavic tribes, 32
Slavík, Juraj, 388
Slovakia:
Communists in, 310–13
as Czecho-Slovakia, 108-9; map, 109
in Czechoslovak Republic, 45, 186
in history, 26–27
Hungarians ousted from, 358–60, 365
independence of, 111, 114, 117, 160, 311–13, 378, 411–12
Jewish community in, 34–35
Jews persecuted in, 311–12
nationalists, 29, 108–9, 110–11, 310–11
and Velvet Divorce, 411–12
Smetana, Bedřich, 31
Smolková, Jiřina, 276n
Sokol gymnastics, 205, 354
Sonnevend, Jan, 222
Sotomayor, Sonia, 72n
Soviet Union:
and Beneš, see Beneš, Eduard
Bolshevik Revolution, 41, 68, 262
and Communist system, 344–47, 373, 412
Czechoslovak treaties with, 55–56, 60, 78, 79, 81, 95, 107, 293, 353–54, 365
and England, 126, 194, 303
and France, 55, 85, 90, 107–8
German invasion of, 193–96, 199, 200, 204, 256, 261, 264
history rewritten in, 412
Hitler-Stalin pact, 126–27, 162, 187, 194, 196
and Marshall Plan, 364–65
and Munich agreement, 105, 107–8
and Poland, 107, 127, 148, 292–93, 302, 303, 304–5
Red Army, 79, 148, 194, 294, 314–15, 318–19, 319, 321, 344, 353
siege of Stalingrad, 256, 262, 264
Stalinist purges, 79, 405
territorial ambitions of, 127, 160, 258, 260, 293
and uranium, 353–54
and World War II, 320
Špaček, Jiří, 162
Spiegel, Alfred (grandfather), 49
Spiegel family, 49–50
Spiegelová, Anna (mother), 49–52; see also Korbelová, Mandula
Spiegelová, Marie “Máňa,” 234, 234, 238
Spiegelová, Růžena (grandmother), 49, 59, 111, 114, 237–39, 238, 285
Spies, Gerty, 244–45, 267
Spinka, František, 214
Stalin, Josef, 2, 219, 295, 370
and Beneš, 257–62, 263, 264–65, 294, 314, 372, 402
and Czechoslovak Communists, 310–11, 353, 354, 372, 374, 386, 396
funeral of, 406
and German threat to Czechoslovakia, 78
and Hitler, 126, 127, 193–94, 264–65
and Hitler-Stalin pact, 126–27, 162, 187, 194, 196
and Marshall Plan, 364–65, 374
and Poland, 292–93, 303, 304–5
at Potsdam, 337
purges by, 79, 405
at Yalta, 301–5, 302, 315, 344
and Yugoslavia, 377, 404
Starosta, Saint, 326
Steinhardt, Laurence, 366, 371, 373, 388, 398
Stránská, Hana, 326, 333–35, 336
Stránský, Jan, 152-53, 191n
Stránský, Jaroslav, 191, 236, 382
Stránský, Milada, 191
Strauss, Oskar, 243
Struther, Jan, 125
Sudeten German Heimat Front, 62–63, 74–75
Sudeten Germans:
categories of, 336
in Czechoslovak Republic, 46, 62–65, 73, 74–75, 77–78, 82–83, 84–93, 230
exiles in England, 230
expulsion of, 230, 260, 262, 264, 324–25, 331–43, 355
and humanitarian crimes, 339, 340–42
“orderly and humane” deportations of, 337–38
property confiscated, 332, 336, 339, 341, 354
shooting, abuse, torture of, 332–36, 334, 339, 341
Sudetenland:
borders of, 108
German occupation of, 93, 100, 100, 108
and Great Depression, 56
Hitler in, 103
Nazi threat to, 89, 91–92, 97
secession of, 92
violence in, 87
Svejk, good soldier (fict.), 41, 227, 393
Svoboda, Ludvík, 377
Syrový, Jan, 92
Táborský, Eduard, 120, 209, 383
Tehran Conference (1943), 315
Terezín (Theresienstadt), 28, 266–85
arts and culture in, 266–68, 267
author’s tour of, 205, 275
crematory, 245
death toll in, 245
education in, 248–49
escape from, 247
ghetto of, 205–7, 206, 246–55, 285
Hachenburg’s poem, 211
Jewish Council of Elders, 245, 246, 253, 274, 279
Jews transported to, 204–7, 242–44, 243, 249, 271, 275, 277
Korbel family members moved to, 241–55, 281–82
“model facility” of, 269, 271–76, 273
population in, 246
rules and restrictions in, 247–48
security forces in, 247
sleeping quarters, 244
transports out of, 239, 253–54, 282
Vedem (magazine) produced in, 252–53, 277
Yad Ozeret in, 251
Teutonic tribes, 32
Thirty Years’ War, 376
Tiso, Josef, 110, 311–12, 342
Tito, Josip Broz, 347–48, 348, 349–52, 355, 356–57, 364, 368, 374, 404, 405
Tollett, Orlow, 178
Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace, 79–80
Toynbee, Arnold, 68
Trawniki forced-labor camp, 239
Truman, Harry S., 316, 337, 367
Truman Doctrine, 370
“Truth shall prevail” (“Pravda vítĕzí”), 2, 21
Turkey, 370
United Nations, 258–59, 299
creation of, 301, 303, 304
and Korbel, 389–90, 404, 407–8
and Masaryk, 353, 360, 366
United States:
aid to England, 151–52, 182–85
Beneš in, 117–19, 259–61, 260
Czechoslovak sovereignty recognized by, 43–44
and Hitler-Stalin pact, 126–27
Korbel family move to, 407–8, 409–10
and lend-lease, 182–85
and liberation of Prague, 315–17
Marshall Plan, 363–65, 366, 374
Jan Masaryk in, 168, 229, 360
T. G. Masaryk in, 42–43
and Munich agreement, 107, 118, 119
Truman Doctrine, 370
in World War II, 229
Unity of Czech Brethren, 25
University of Denver, 409
USSR, see Soviet Union
Václav (Wenceslas), King/Saint, 19, 19, 20
Valčik, Josef (Zdenda), 214, 216–17, 222
Vansittart, Sir Robert, 63
Velvet Divorce, 411–12
Velvet Revolution, 2, 134n, 387n, 400, 411
Versailles treaty, 57, 70, 71, 105
Vienna, 29–30, 76–77
Voice of America, 400
Voroshilov, Kliment, 55–56
Voskovec, Jiří, 72
Watson-Watt, Robert, 169
Weiss, Jiří, 233
Weissová, Helga, 251
Wells, H. G., 147
Wenceslas (Václav), King/Saint, 19, 19, 20
crown of, 21, 21, 198, 199, 202
“Where Is My Home?,” 4, 44, 259, 386
Wilhelmina, queen of Netherlands, 195
Wilson, Woodrow, 42, 70, 119, 303, 410
Winant, John G., 184–85
Winchell, Walter, 118
Winton, Nicholas, 122–25
Woolton, Lord, 166
World Jewish Congress, 235
World War I:
and Beneš, 54–55
and England, 69–70, 142–43
and France, 85
and Masaryk, 117
onset of, 40, 143
Paris Peace Conference (1919), 44–45, 55
political prisoners in, 205
and U.S., 42
Versailles treaty, 57, 70, 71, 105
World War II, 410–11
Ardennes anniversary, 299–301
in Czechoslovakia, 100, 320
D-Day, 289
declaration of war, 143, 144
destruction in, 305, 322, 324
in England, 142–54, 166, 169–81, 289–92, 296–98
and Europe first, 229, 320
and France, 142, 149, 151, 152–53, 154–55, 161, 169, 172, 193, 299–301
lessons of, 412
onset of, 3–5, 127–28, 143
Paris Peace Conference (1946), 357–60, 361, 365
“phony war,” 142
preludes to, 127–28, 166–68, 170
preparations for, 74, 83, 94, 95, 149
U.S. entry into, 229
V-E Day, 337
and war crimes tribunals, 340–42
Yalta Conference, 301–5, 302, 315, 344
Yugoslavia:
communism in, 371, 376, 377, 404
German designs on, 189
Korbel family in, 59–61, 101, 326, 347–52, 368–70
Korbel’s dismissal from, 109–10
and Little Entente, 55
and Marshall Plan, 364
Žantovský, Michael, 8
Zenkl, Petr, 373, 380, 382
Zionism, 34, 35, 191
Žižka, Jan, 23, 24, 25, 92, 406–7
Zog, king of Albania, 195
About the Authors
Madeleine Albright served as America’s sixty-fourth secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. Her distinguished career also includes positions on Capitol Hill, on the National Security Council, and as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is a resident of Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
Bill Woodward lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Robin Blackwood, and their daughter, Mary.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
ALSO BY MADELEINE ALBRIGHT
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The Mighty and the Almighty
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Credits
Except where noted in bold type beneath applicable images, all images are courtesy of the author. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following institutions and individuals for permission to reproduce images in their possession. Page numbers refer to the print edition:
Jan Kaplan Archive (pages 14, 133, 145, 318, 319, 334); CTK PHOTO (pages 16 [Martin Štĕrba, René Fluger], 24, 38, 162, 167, 199, 206, 208, 209, 217, 221, 260, 263, 284, 327, 348, 393 [Michael Kamaryt], 396); Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images (pages 19, 22); Edu-art Prague/Andrej Šumbera (page 21); Alena Korbel (pages 51, 240); Bundesarchiv, Bild (pages 98 [183-R69173], 100 [183-H13116]); Associated Press (pages 103, 176, 188, 302); Dáša Šimová (page 123, 273); Václav Havel (page 136); Pedro Mahler (pages 157, 163, 234, 238, 282); National Archives (page 175 [306-NT-901F-2743V]); Jewish Museum in Prague Photo Archive collections (pages 243, 252); Terezín Memorial (pages 244 [Franktišek Mořic Nágl, prison sleeping quarters, PT 6728, © Alexandra Strnadová], 245 [the interior of the crematory, FAPT 6283], 267 [a poster for Hans Kráza’s children’s opera, Brundibár, PT4010, Hermann’s Collection, © Zuzana Dvořaková]); Yad Vashem Photo Archive (page 270); ICRC (page 273); and Robin Blackwood (page 447).
Cover photograph of author, age three, courtesy of author; photograph of Nazi troops in Prague, courtesy of CTK.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reproduce the poems on pages vii and 211 from We Are Children Just the Same: Vedem, the Secret Magazine by the Boys of Terezín © 1994 by Petr Ginz and Hanuš Hachenburg, published by the Jewish Publication Society.
Cover design by Anthony Morais
Copyright
PRAGUE WINTER. Copyright © 2012 by Madeleine Albright. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Epub Edition © May 2012 ISBN: 9780062030368
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Albright, Madeleine Korbel.
Prague winter : a personal story of remembrance and war, 1937–1948 / Madeleine Albright.—FIRST EDITION.
p. cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-06-203031-3 (hardback)
1. Czechoslovakia—History—1938–1945. 2. World War, 1939–1945—Czechoslovakia. 3. Albright, Madeleine Korbel—Family. 4. Albright, Madeleine Korbel—Childhood and youth. 5. Jewish families—Czech Republic—Prague—Biography. 6. Prague (Czech Republic)—Biography. 7. Prague (Czech Republic)—History—20th century. 8. World War, 1939–1945—Czech Republic—Prague. I. Title.
DB2207.A43 2012
943.71'2033092—dc23
2011049416
12 13 14 15 16 OV/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Footnotes
* This story has always had its skeptics, but a scientific scan of Charles Bridge, conducted in 2008, confirmed the presence of egg protein in the mortar.
* The Hussite cause was viewed as a threat by Catholics throughout Europe. Among them was the eighteen-year-old Joan of Arc, who, in 1430, wrote a letter addressed to the “heretics of Bohemia.” “If I wasn’t busy with the English wars,” she warned, “I would have come to see you long before now; but if I don’t find out that you have reformed yourselves I might leave the English behind and go against you.”
* Hilsner was also convicted in the second trial, but his sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment. In 1918, he was pardoned by the emperor of Austria and released.
* The Sudetenland was to the south in relation to Germany; it encompassed parts of the northern, western, and southern border regions of Czechoslovakia.
* Despite American democracy’s 130-year head start, the Czechoslovak Republic enshrined women’s suffrage six months before the United States reached that milestone.
* In Czech, the suffix “-ová” is added to the names of women and girls.
* The interview was conducted by my daughter Katie Albright for an elementary school project; she received an A.
* Beneš’s first romance, also with a girl named Anna, had ended badly, so he asked Miss Vlčeková to change her name to Hana, which she did.
* The Czechoslovak Republic did not require visas from travelers who had German passports. Refugees were registered in Prague, granted residence permits, and given stateless passports. No other country in Europe accorded such generous treatment to refugees.
* Jiří Voskovec later became a film actor in America. His performance as a patriotic immigrant in the jury room drama Twelve Angry Men was cited by U.S. Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor as strengthening her resolve to pursue a career in law.
* “Tell everyone in Prague that Hitler says hello.”
* One can draw a straight line between Masaryk’s complaint and an observation included in President Barack Obama’s speech to the people of Prague sixty years later: “Many times in the twentieth century, decisions were made without you at the table; great powers let you down, or determined your destiny without your voice being heard.”