Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948

by Madeleine K. Albright

Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.

Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history. Drawing on her memory, her parents' written reflections, interviews with contemporaries, and newly available documents, Albright recounts a tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring. Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind and, simultaneously, a journey with universal lessons that is intensely personal.

The book takes readers from the Bohemian capital's thousand-year-old castle to the bomb shelters of London, from the desolate prison ghetto of Terezín to the highest councils of European and American government. Albright reflects on her discovery of her family's Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland's tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Often relying on eyewitness descriptions, she tells the story of how millions of ordinary citizens were ripped from familiar surroundings and forced into new roles as exiled leaders and freedom fighters, resistance organizers and collaborators, victims and killers. These events of enormous complexity are never-theless shaped by concepts familiar to any growing child: fear, trust, adaptation, the search for identity, the pressure to conform, the quest for independence, and the difference between right and wrong.

"No one who lived through the years of 1937 to 1948," Albright writes, "was a stranger to profound sadness. Millions of innocents did not survive, and their deaths must never be forgotten. Today we lack the power to reclaim lost lives, but we have a duty to learn all that we can about what happened and why."

At once a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history, Prague Winter serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past—as seen through the eyes of one of the international community's most respected and fascinating figures.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Biography, World War II, Biography Memoir, War

467 pages, Hardcover

First published April 24, 2012

About the author

Czechoslovakian-born American diplomat Madeleine Korbel Albright, the first such woman, appointed secretary of state of United States in 1997, served in that position until 2001.

Bill Clinton, president, nominated her, born Marie Jana Korbelová, on 5 December 1996, the Senate unanimously confirmed her, 99-0. People swore her in office on 23 January 1997.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelei...

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prague Winter: A personal Story of Remembrance and war, reads more like a well written history book than a personal story of rememberance and I was left feeling a little disappointed with this one as I was really looking forward to reading about the experiences of her family in Europe and while to some extent the book does give us an insight into her family history this is more a book that concerntrates on the politics of the War and Czech Republic's policital history. I did feel it read like a history book and the more I read the more I felt I was getting a history lesson and felt myself tuning out.

Unfortunately I chose this one as an audio book and it is read by the author Madeleine Albright and the narration was quite dry as the narrator reads in a monotone voice which really didn't add anything to the book and unfortunately at 50% I felt I just couldn't take anymore and parted company with the book. I would have switched to a hard copy but the book really wasn't what I was expecting so thankfully was able to return to audible.

An ok read and I did learn some interesting facts but this one proved a little dry for me and hence my 2 star rating.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

On completion:

Never was I bored when I listened to this book. Never was I confused by the facts. The balance between historical detail and personal family events was perfect. I enjoyed that the history of Czechoslovakia during the war was thoroughly covered as well as what happened to her family.

I adored learning about Madeleine as a child....she was no angel and what she tells us is often very funny. She got a D minus in geography! OK, that was when she was still very young, so we can forgive this. She throws in humor so often. She poses philosophical questions and analyzes historical events. She doesn't always have all the answers to every question, but then we consider, along with her, the possible alternatives.

I am truly impressed with the historical detail she has taught me and my delight with the learning process. This book shows how learning can be fun. Historical figures, such as Edward Benes(President) and Jan Mazaryk(Foreign Minister) and his father,Thomas Mazaryk(President), and Albright's family, particularly herself and her father, feel like people I know. I know more than just what they did. I have an idea of what makes them who they are.

For me this book was wonderful. It is interesting, instructive, funny and moving. A great book. It is not often that so much detail can be absorbed when you listen to a book. It is amazing. I must give it five stars.

ETA: couple more funny things...... When Madeleine was little she was told to give water to their chickens. She grabbed a milk bottle and filled it with water and gave that to them. Her mother asked hos she expected the chickens to drink from that. She replied that chickens have long necks. And do you know that the V1s used in the Blitz were called "bubble and squeak" (see message 51 and 52) or how Albright came to wear a large emerald ring with surrounding inset diamonds to Tito's funeral? The book will tell you.

Thoughts while reading/listening:

This is really, really good. It is much more history about WW2 than memoir. Albright does an excellent job of explaining history. All is very clear and interesting and amusing too since she throws in funny jokes. It is true that the main focuses are European and Czech and British and American. This is understandable.

Here is one example of a joke: Mussolini and Hitler were on the phone. Mussolini was not able to take over Greece and in general was unable to move forward. So he says to Hitler, "This telephone connection is bad. Where are you? In Britain?" You see Hitler hadn't managed to knock out London in the Blitz. So of course, Hitler was NOT in Britain..... I am not saying this as well as Albright does.

She reads her own book and probably because she knows how to speak she does a fine job. I really cannot say I have any complaints. To like this book you have to like non-fiction and history of course. And be interested in reading about World War II. I have listened to almost half.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating = 3.5 stars

I rounded up rather than down because the book gave me a completely different perspective on World War II. Specifically, how the betrayal at Munich looked from the Czechoslovakian viewpoint. They were abandoned by their sworn allies when Hitler invaded.

I once heard a recording of Dylan Thomas reading his poem, "The Hand That Signed the Paper," and it moved me to tears. That poem came to my mind as I read about the consequences of appeasing Hitler. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/...

The title and the book description are a bit misleading, so prepare to grow old whilst Maddie makes her important historical points. She is unfailingly thorough.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for the audiobook version only.

I went into reading this book with great interest given that a small part of my family lived in Prague prior to and during WWII. I thought that reading about Madeleine Albright's family might lend a personal note to what happened to my relatives. Albright does sprinkle her book with stories and facts about how she and her family fared during WWII and that is fascinating but the book is extremely heavy with dry recitations of history and politics. Much of the latter I am glad to have learned but Albright's monotone narration made attending to some of this audiobook more of a struggle than it might otherwise have been.

For anyone interested in this time and place I recommend trying the print version.

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madeleine Albright has written a very fascinating and compelling book, shedding light on her native Czechoslovakia and its history, her parents and the challenges faced by their generation, her extended family, and her formative years (up to age 10).

Prior to 1918, Czechoslovakia existed only as a dream in the minds of a number of dedicated, hard-working, intelligent and astute Czechs and Slovaks. Of their number, there was one man who stood out head and shoulders above the rest: Tomas Masaryk (1850-1937). According to Albright, "Masaryk saw a world in which the settled verities of religious conviction, political order, and economic status were under attack. Moderization was essential but also dangerous because it could leave people without a way to anchor themselves either intellectually or emotionally. The solution, in his eyes, was to embrace religion without the straitjacket of the Church, social revolution without the excesses of Bolshevism, and national pride without bigotry. He believed in democracy and the capacity of people to learn and to grow. His dream was to build a Czech society that could take its place alongside the Western countries he admired."

With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and through the efforts of Masaryk to interest the West during WWI in his cause for an independent Czech nation, Czechoslovakia came into being before the end of 1918. (Subsequently, the nation's borders were firmly defined at the Paris Peace Conference the following year.)

Albright shows how well, considering its growing pains and challenges, Czechoslovakia developed and prospered under Masaryk's beknighted leadership. He was one of those rare political leaders of great will, charisma, and intellect who truly lived up to the democratic ideals he espoused.

Upon Masaryk's death in 1937 (the year Albright was born), leadership of the country passed to his close associate Edvard Benes. Benes, while not of the stature of Tomas Masayrk, was a principled man with some measure of political acumen. He led his nation through the Munich Crisis of 1938 (which resulted in the West's abandonment of Czechoslovakia following the ceding of the Sudetenland region to Hitler's Germany), the dissolution of the rest of the Czech nation when Hitler marched his forces into Prague in March 1939, and Benes' own subsequent departure to Britain, where he led a Czechoslovak government-in-exile through the Second World War. At the same time these momentous events were played out on the European stage, Albright's family (her father was a diplomat in the Czech Foreign Ministry) was forced to flee to Britain, too.

In reading this book, I learned a lot about Czechoslovakia, which filled me with admiration for Tomas G. Masaryk, his son Jan (a truly remarkable and humane man), and Albright's parents (Josef and Marie Korbel). What made for sad, sobering reading was learning that most of Albright's remaining family and relatives in Czechoslovakia were killed in the Holocaust. (Albright, who was baptized Catholic as a very young child in Britain, had no idea of her Jewish heritage til decades later, through a Washington Post news story during her tenure as Secretary of State in the Clinton Administration.)

Anyone who enjoys history in the form of a good, compelling story should read this book. You'll be glad you did.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prague Winter is a fascinating account of the political and social history of Czechoslakia in the late 1930s through till 1948; from the threat to the actuality of Nazi Germany's invasion, the bitter struggles of Czech communities in exile as well as in their occupied homeland during the war and then the growing Communist ascendancy after it.

Her immediate family survived the war in London because her father, as a diplomat, was able to arrange the family's safe exit before the German grip closed off escape. After the war he took the family back to their home country to be part of the new, democratic government of their homeland. As a committed liberal democrat, he grew to be in danger again as the pro-Soviet communists increasingly took over and the family emigrated this time to the United States. The 'challenge faced by moderates in any political maelstrom ... is to make their voices heard amid the roar emanating from the extremes' and their fate is to be mistrusted by all.

It is clear where Albright's intense interest in international politics and the values of liberal democracy originated. Her story teases out the the questions that drove her as she wrote the book: why we make the choices we do, why some choose ethically and some do not. She writes 'What prompts one person to act boldly in a moment of crisis and a second to seek shelter in the crowd? Why do some become stronger in the face of adversity while others quickly lose heart? What separates the bully from the protector? Is it our education, spiritual belief, our parents. our friends, the circumstances of our birth, traumatic events, or more likely some combination that spells the difference?'

The historian's job, she says, is to sift through different narratives and separate fact from fiction. But frequently, 'facts are redesigned to fit a pattern that conforms to the author's sensibility at the time the writing is done. That is why the past seems constantly to change. "A scholar", wrote my father,"inescapably reads the historical record in much the same way as he would look in a mirror - what is most clear to him is the image of his own values [and] sense of identity"'. And that is one of the main things that makes this such a fascinating book to read - it begins to explain Madeleine Albright's values, intentions and priorities throughout her remarkable career, as well as telling part of the story of Czechoslovakia during the recurring violence of the twentieth century.

One of the things about Prague Winter that has attracted widespread interest is Albright's discovery and revelation that her family heritage was Jewish. It's not astonishing that her non-observant, mostly secular, parents decided to adopt Catholic Christianity (she discusses their probable reasons thoughtfully and sensitively in Chapter 14), but it is utterly astonishing that her parents never discussed it with their children, never even informed them that they had a Jewish family history on 3 of 4 sides and that many relatives had been killed during the Holocaust. In the course of writing this book, Albright researched her family and followed as many as she could trace to the ghetto of Terezin and then Auschwitz, and she dedicated it 'to those who did not survive but taught us how to live'.

She has placed her complex narrative of family life (in times of safety and danger) within the context of the great political forces that overran Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Along the way she offers insights deriving from events int at time but which continue to resonate. For instance 'the foreign policy of every small country begins with one question: how can we survive? The issue is particularly acute if the country is in possession of resources that others prize or is located in a place of interest to larger powers. This vulnerability explains why smaller states are often the most vocal in supporting institutions - such as the United Nations - that are designed to protect the rights and sovereignty of all'.

Some of her writing is inspired: for instance she says that Winston Churchill's mind 'possessed a vast library of martial phrases'. (It is in fact impossible to imagine him having anything like a normal conversation with no ringing cadences.) But much of the book is in pretty flat prose. A co-author is mentioned (Bill Woodward) but his role not explained; the title page just says it is 'with' him. Perhaps Albright wrote the first draft and he took it from there? Was he effectively a ghost writer? I wanted to know more about him and about the research processes she had used. That's why I gave it a 4 not a 5.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is largely about the history of Czechoslovakia in WWII, covering roughly the years between 1937-1948. And it is a fascinating period to be sure. Madeleine Albright did not even know until the 1990s that she was Jewish or that her grandparents sadly had died during the holocaust.

Her father was an ambassador and aide to the Czech president and she (a toddler) and her parents escaped to Britain immediately after the Nazi's invaded the Sudetenland in 1938. Only 20% of Czech Jews survived the war and only about 2% who stayed in Czechoslovakia survived.

This is an excellent history book with perfect pace. I knew the story about Heydrich the Nazi. But I felt she told this story better and continued the story on the town and the people who were wiped off the map during the Nazi reprisal. Albright keeps her family story to a minimum so as to not get in the way of the history unfolding in Prague and neighboring Yugoslavia. Of course Albright used numerous sources for her history since she wasn't aware of the consequences of the war as a young child. This allowed her to stay at a historian's distance in my view.

I am really glad that I read it. Highly recommended.

5 stars

[Sherril · Rating 5 out of 5]

September 4, 2022: I love this book on many levels. I will return to review it.

I Rarely give a book 5 stars,
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️, but I honored this one, Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War 1937-1848, with the highest rating, both as a tribute to the book and to the author, Madeline Albright and in her blessed memory (Died: March 23, 2022).

A friend went to hear Madeline Albright speak about the book and he brought me a signed copy. I didn’t get to it until Albright passed away. Then I grabbed it off the shelf and read it with great interest. There were parts less interesting than others, but overall, I found it to be a great read. I’ve been to Prague and that added to my interest in the book. I am Jewish, so the part about Albright’s learning of her Judaism was fascinating to me. Reading about the history of Czechoslovakia during WW II and the Holocaust, from Madeline Albright’s vantage point, was fascinating. I sincerely hope anyone and everyone who comes across my review, will read this important and well written book.

[Scott Hitchcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*'s

I wanted to read something from the Czechoslovakian perspective on the war having read so many different books from different perspectives. She did a great job setting up the Czech perspective and the parts of the book spent within the country were very interesting. The post war was equally compelling.

She did however spend a lot of time on well documented aspects of the war. I understand you need them for context but they became major sections of the book. They were well written and thought out and enjoyable. I just wanted more of the Czech perspective.

Whenever you read a historical book from a press member of a politician you have to be ready for a heap of their politics. She did not disappoint but until the post war section contained it pretty well. Once she got there those events played more and more into her role in the government and you could feel the slant increasing.

Still very good effort that I would recommend.

[Kenneth P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating book is at once a personal memoir, a history of Czechoslovakia and a narrative of events in Europe during the Second World War. The project of writing the book began when Dr. Albright, a life-long Christian at the age of 59, learned that she had been born a Jew and that many of her relatives (including three grandparents) had died in the Holocaust. She writes,

I was shocked and, to be honest, embarrassed to discover that I had not known my family history better...... Nor was I entirely reassured by the many people who spoke or wrote to me of having had comparable experiences concerning secrets kept by their own parents.

In 1939, at the age of one, Madeleine and her family escaped their native Czechoslovakia for the safety of London where her father, Josef, would play a prominent role in the Czechoslovak government in exile. A Czech diplomat and scholar, Josef Korbel had been Ambassador to Yugoslavia, a post he would re-assume after the war.

The appeasement of Hitler, by the British and French at Munich, pressured Czech President Benes to fork over a sliver of his country-- the Sudetenland. Albright's detailed account of these negotiations is nothing less than great history. No stone is left unturned. She offers arguments from every possible persuasion as to what Czech President Benes could have done. Ultimately Benes went along with Munich. Josef Korbel disagreed with the decision at the time. Daughter Madeleine, in hindsight, concurs. What I found most interesting was that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich a hero, a great man who had preserved the peace. In a matter of months, after Hitler had gobbled up all of Czechoslovakia, the hero became the goat.

Albright's account is meticulously researched. There is the mountain of published material; there are her interviews with relatives and surviving Czech officials. Her ace-in-the-hole, however, was her garage where countless boxes of documents waited to be scrutinized. Much of it consisted of her father's writing from the Czech exile 1940's. Some of it was her mother's personal correspondence. All of it gave Albright a unique angle, a cat bird's seat for the kind of book she had in mind.

The work of the Czechoslovaks in London during the war was crucial for the future survival of their country. It was an arduous task to gain full diplomatic recognition from the allies (which they did). Using BBC broadcasts they bolstered morale in their homeland while deftly aiding the Czech resistance. At this time, in 1941, the Korbel family converted to the Roman Catholic faith. Albright, four years old at the time, does not remember her baptism but she laments the the fact that her parents never discussed it with her in later years. She speculates that such a conversion, in 1941 Europe, made a lot of sense and there is no arguing that logic.

After the war the Korbels returned to Prague where Josef resumed his work in the foreign ministry. Before long he was re-appointed as Ambassador to Yugoslavia. There are some interesting chapters of Madeleine and the family in Belgrade, some insightful looks at Marshall Tito who was a complex piece of work.

What follows, sadly, is a detailed account of the nation of Czechoslovakia, recently liberated, falling once again into dictatorship. I was surprised to learn that Communism did not come to Czechoslovakia with Russian tanks. It began with the results of a free election that enabled Czech Communists to control both the cabinet and parliament. Very quickly they took control of the army and police. It was a coup waiting to happen. Again Dr. Albright provides a detailed account that is laden with documentation. Twice in a ten year period her native country lost its freedom. No one but she could have described it better.

As to being kept in the dark regarding her Jewish heritage, she is frank and forthcoming with her disappointment. Regarding the deaths of relatives in the Holocaust, and why she was shielded from that knowledge, she is mum. An aunt, uncle, first cousin and three grandparents perished in Nazi camps. She discovered this family secret after both of her own parents had passed away. It's possible that her feelings regarding such a monumental secret are too personal and painful to share.

With my kindle indicating that I was only 70% finished, I was disappointed to find the author wrapping it up. Indeed the remaining 30% consists of sources, notes, timelines etc. That's my only beef with the book: it ended too soon.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Madeleine Albright is one of my favorite humans, so I didn't expect her book to be a difficult read. And it was.

Not because the writing wasn't great - it is. But the deep dive, and transparency with which she wrote her story - observing WWII as a 12-year old from within the eye of the story - Prague, the halls of her family's own homes. Her parents and extended family members were trying to make things be as "normal" as possible for their kids, but still make deals with the devils they had to on a grownup level.

She doesn't keep her readers at a distance from any part of her story, including her later discoveries about her direct connections to the people she was seeing persecuted, connections that weren't clearly understood until much later in her life and career. I was astounded at the desperate efforts entire generations of people in Europe, Czechoslovakia, Prague, her households expended just to make sure some of them made it out BEFORE it all went to chaos, and the power keeping actual identity secret played. Had it all been known, would she have been?

I so admire her, am sad for her passing, and hope for more like her to rise up and be heard.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had I known in advance exactly what this book was about, I would have left it on the library shelf and had denied myself an excellent read.
Madeleine Albright tells the story of Czechoslovakia before, during, and after World War II in a compelling, easy to follow narrative. The experiences of her family provide a thread since her father was an ambassador so she personally met many of the politicos involved, even though she was a young child. She relies on her father's papers and personal interviews for much of the material.
Czechoslovakia had a history of democracy. After the Nazi invasion, some of the government officials wanted to retain that democracy even in exile. The actions of the USSR, Great Britain, and The United States all played major roles on the future of the country and how it ended up under Russian domination.
As a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, I was well aware of the case of John Demjanjuk, a former Nazi guard who had come here and was identified as a war terrorist. He always claimed he was innocent saying that he was a prisoner in Trawinki. In the book, Secretary Albright wrote, "Trawniki was used by the Nazis to teach Soviet and Ukranian prisoners of war how to become concentration camp guards; as part of their education, the students were required to shoot other captives." Reading that was a mind-blowing experience as I had never heard about that before and it made sense of what he claimed and what he omitted to say.
As a result of her research, she was able to find out what happened to most of her relatives who were murdered in the Shoah.
At the end of the book, she includes a listing of the main characters in the story as well as a time line to help readers.
It's an excellent read.

[Ann Without An E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit tedious to get through. Heavy on history, light personal story type details. The title of the book seems a bit deceptive.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting history of WWII from the Czechoslovakian perspective.

[David Levine · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who lived in Prague and studied eastern european history, this was just OK. Albright's own personal history (or tragedy in these years) is gripping. However, her historical background discussion, including her depiction of the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1939) is either facile or naive if not wrong. It is a very Czech-centric view typical of what has published by Czechs and recycles the "noble Czech democrats" myth which they themselves created. The story of the fall of the first Czechoslovak Republic is more complicated than that. History has remembered the Czechs fondly because they were the first victims of the Nazis. However, the seeds of the collapse were sown by the Czechs themselves. in 1918 they simply replace Habsburg absolutism with that of their own: over both the Slovaks and the Germans. In fact, there were more Germans in the Republic than Slovaks, a fact that the Czechs swept under the carpet by claiming the Slovaks as the "same." This led to an inherent undemocratic deficit that set the stage for what happened in the 1930s... A Swiss-like canton arrangement would have been far better rather than imperial Czechs replacing imperial Habsburgs...

[Joe Bolin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prague Winter is a very well-written textbook. The subtitle, though, should really be "A History of Czechoslovakian Involvement in World War II"; if that appeals to you, then you are part of the (very) small target audience for this book.

[Caren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I love the Czechs, those intelligent, gracious people. This is a well-told story of one Czech who later became a very influential American. If it is a curse to have been born in interesting times, Dr. Albright was certainly well and truly cursed. But, as in the best fairy tales, the curse was balanced by having been blessed with wonderfully prescient parents who stayed one step ahead of events and kept their little daughter safe. The nation of their birth, Czechoslovakia, did not fare as well during the twentieth century. The author has woven a nuanced tale of her own childhood place within the story of the fate of her homeland from 1937 to 1948. Her father's career as a diplomat gave the family some agility which others in those years probably lacked. Thus, the family spent the years of World War II with the exiled Czech government in London. After the war, with her father assigned to to the Czech embassy in Yugoslavia, they were once again able to keep a step ahead of the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia and seek asylum in the USA. By such roundabout paths is a future secretary of state made! This book is rich with detail and, because of the personal aspects of the story, a feel of "you were there" history. I found the book to be extremely well-written. I see by the title page that is was written "with Bill Woodward"; the collaboration of the two is quite successful. I think most people are familiar with the outline of the history of World War II, but there are many accounts of the heroism of ordinary people here, and I imagine most readers will come away learning of some incidents from those years about which they had not previously heard. There are stories of the famous and of the unsung, and I was struck yet again at the absolute horror of those years. Dr. Albright says it so much better than I ever could in some of the concluding remarks to her book:
"Given the events described in this book, we cannot help but acknowledge the capacity within us for unspeakable cruelty or--to give the virtuous their due--at least some degree of moral cowardice. There is a piece of the traitor within most of us, a slice of the collaborator, an aptitude for appeasement, a touch of the unfeeling prison guard. Who among us has not dehumanized others, if not by word or action, then at least in thought? From the maternity ward to the deathbed, all that goes on within our breasts is not sweetness and light." (p. 413-414)
She then goes on to quote Vaclav Havel's perception of this human quandary:
"...Amid the repression of those [Cold War] years, he discerned two varieties of hope. The first he compared to the longing for 'some kind of salvation from the outside.'...'On the other end of the spectrum', said Havel, there are those who insist on 'speaking the truth simply because it [is] the right thing to do....' " (p. 414)
She then closes her book with these powerful lines:
"I have spent a lifetime looking for remedies to all manner of life's problems--personal, social, political, global. I am deeply suspicious of those who offer simple solutions and statements of absolute certainty or who claim full possession of the truth. Yet I have grown equally skeptical of those who suggest that all is too nuanced and complex for us to learn any lessons, that there are so many sides to everything that we can pursue knowledge every day of our lives and still know nothing for sure. I believe we can recognize truth when we see it, just not at first and not without ever relenting in our efforts to learn more. This is because the goal we seek, and the good we hope for, comes not as some final reward but as the hidden companion to our quest. It is not what we find, but the reason we cannot stop looking and striving, that tells us why we are here." ( 415-416)

This is so well said, and is the reason I love reading. How else could I ever learn the thoughts of this wise, experienced woman? Through books such as this, our journey is enhanced, our life experience enlarged, as we all seek after our purpose on this earth.

[Brent Forkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating personal and WW2 history, very readable and engaging, yet fact-filled.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by former US secretary of state and UN ambassador Madeleine Albright, Prague Winter is a seamlessly woven amalgam: part family memoir, part political and cultural history, and part discerning examination of how people make difficult, sometimes world-altering, moral choices. It covers the turbulent first half of twentieth century Europe and is focused most closely on Czechoslovakia, a distinctive and fascinating country this book made me want to visit. As a naturalized American citizen and government official who was born into a diplomatic Czechoslovakian family just before the onset of WWII, Albright has unique perspectives and insights. The catalyst for this book is that, raised a Catholic, Albright didn’t know about her family’s Jewish heritage until 1997 when a Washington Post investigation uncovered the information. Albright’s parents were dead by then so she couldn’t ask them about their reasons; instead she began to research on her own. What she found and conveys in her writing is a much more complicated history of her native land than the one she had been brought up to believe in.

Eastern Europe lost and gained its freedom twice in Albright’s lifetime. Albright examines both the psychological and historical reasons that Hitler and Stalin were able to fool the world about their intentions, and the grim philosophical and ethical dilemmas world leaders and ordinary citizens, including her parents, faced in consequence. For instance, are grand acts of resistance, like the assassination of Czechoslovakia’s top German Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich, worth the harsh reprisals they cause? Heydrich’s slaying, an episode Albright recounts in thrilling detail, increased national pride, raised badly depleted moral, helped reinvigorate the opposition and established Czechoslovakia as a key player in the war, a necessary step toward it regaining its independence when the fighting was over. But many innocent people were tortured and killed in consequence. An entire town, mistakenly thought to be complicit, was burned and razed to the ground. The men were shot, the children deemed young and blond enough were taken away to be adopted by German families, the remaining children were murdered in gas chambers and the women were sent to concentration camps. There are no easy answers to the questions Albright considers, and while she usually comes down on one side or another she doesn’t oversimplify the issues involved. It’s a mesmerizing and moving book.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fascinating story that I had no clue was part of her history.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even remember why I picked up this book. The author served in an administration with which I have little in common, but I knew little about her work or life so I came into this book kind of blind. I must say I was fascinated by it.

The subtitle, "A Personal Story of Remembrance and War" really fits the tone and content of this book and it's why I'm willing to give it five stars. The author talks a lot about her family's history and her own personal opinions about what happened from 1937-1948 in and around Czechoslovakia. It's obvious that her perspective is biased, but she doesn't try to hide it and, since I don't know enough about these accounts to contradict her, I just tried to learn from and enjoy the book for what is claims to be: a "personal" perspective.

Even with that caveat, I feel like I really learned a lot about the progression of WWII, along with what lead up to it and what followed it in Eastern Europe. I guess I'm kind of embarrassed about how little of this I knew about. This book provides a decently fast paced overview of the decisions and maneuvers of the powers at that time, what their influences were and the repercussions that followed. It has helped to fill in a lot of what was missing in my conception of how Hitler came to power and then how Stalin came to power. I've always been interested in WWII, but this story was told from a unique perspective focused on Czechoslovakia's involvement and that was super interesting and new for me.

The writing was very easy to follow and is mixed with anecdotes about the author's life and family that help maintain that "personal" feel. It was interesting to read about the author's father's roles and to see how that influenced the author in her work.

Of course, there are some heartbreaking depictions of violence and cruelty portrayed, but that is really inevitable when discussing this period of history. I thought the author struck a good balance with what she choose to write about and it ends on a hopeful note.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and though I'm sure that the author doesn't enjoy any sort of consensus with her views, I thought it was valuable to read about this time in history from her perspective. At the very least, it's another voice that cries out as a witness of the atrocities committed against the Jews and many others that we must remember.

In the last chapter, which is sort of a reflection on all that has happened and where we might be headed, the author quotes Vaclav Havel (who served as the last President of Czechoslovakia and then as the first President of the Czech Republic) about truth. He said, contrary to those who would wait for salvation to come from the outside and do nothing, people on the other side of the spectrum insist on "speaking the truth simply because it [is] the right thing to do, without speculating whether it [will] lead somewhere tomorrow, or the day after, or ever," whether it is "appreciated, or victorious, or repressed for the hundredth time." When I read about post-war trials and how the people struggled to bring justice (while both resisting and succumbing to the desire for revenge) it really challenged me to think about what the responsibility was of the average citizen of these countries. What should Germans living in Czechoslovakia have done (in most cases if they couldn't prove active resistance to the Nazis they were deported after the war). Havel's quote about the truth points in the the right direction. Speak the truth (in word and deed) without speculation of where it will lead. Many gave their lives to do that very thing. We owe them much and should follow their example.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a readable explanation of how an eastern European county came to be behind the "Iron Curtain". Hopefully the future will hold such volumes for the others.

Albright tells how Czechoslovakia was created after WWI. Not too long afterward, its fledgling democracy died as its German minority helped Germany take it away. Later, its second fledgling democracy helped Russia take it away. It's a sad story with historically significant names (Eduard Benes, Thomas Masaryk, Jan Masaryk, Klement Gottwalt, Reihard Heydrich) and places (Sudentenland, Lidice) that were totally new to me.

There were also familiar names and places that have new meaning for me for instance: the background on the Munich Conference, a full story of what went on in Terezin, the timing of the Russian army's arrival in Prague, and how Yalta did not seal the fate of Czechoslovakia. There are huge events, such as parachute assassins of Reinhard Heydrich (Germany's overseer during the war) post-war expulsion of Germans (over 1 million people), and the destruction of Lidice that I never knew about.

Through it, Albright weaves the story of her family. Her father's career in journalism and foreign service gave the young Madlenka Korbel a front row seat, which as a toddler and child, she was too young to understand. As she reconstructs the past she relates where her father was, what he did, what she believes he thought and provides some documents he signed. Her personal anecdotes humanize the story.

Black and white photos appear throughout the text. At the conclusion there is a helpful timeline, a list of key players and titles and a Korbel family chronology. The index, which I used from time to time, always got me what I needed.

This is an excellent book. I hope to see it on the Best of 2012 and awards lists. I also hope to see a sequel, with an up close interpretation of Prague Spring, the Velvet Revolution and the separation of the the Czech and Slovak republics.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so admire Ms. Albright, and I appreciate that with all she's accomplished she has elected to write "books for the rest of us" that are accessible and intelligent at the same time - no compromises either way. This is her third book and it focuses on the history of Czechoslovakia (the country of her birth and ancestry), primarily the events leading up to and during WWII, as intertwined with stories and memories of her family's history in the first half of the 20th C. Simply put, it's all fascinating, and especially so to me given how much I admire her writing style and voice. The latter "voice" is also literal in that she reads this unabridged audio version herself (as she's done with her two previous books) - what a class act. I like the sound of her voice while I also appreciate her tone: smart, ironic, clear-eyed, plus she pulls no punches. Not only does she relate the narrative of events, but she gives her own assessments, sounding like the good professor she now is. Anyone with an interest in not just WWII but also (or separately) an interest in statesmanship will enjoy this book.

[Robin Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most readable histories of the Czech Republic and Europe from the Middle Ages through the Prague Spring and ultimate freedom from the USSR.

As a child, Madeline Albright's father was a Czech ambassador. She was present during the Nazi takeover in WWII, and went with her family to exile in Britain, where her father gave radio addresses to Czechs still at home.

When she found out as an adult that her family were hidden Jews, she sought out the history and fate of her family members. She describes what happened to Czech Jews, including her family.

The title refers to that period when Czechoslovakia lost its liberty to the Nazis, only to fall under the influence of Russian Communists at the end of WWII. Prague Spring, in 1968, was the attempt of the Czechs to maintain a sense of freedom under Russian influence, and was, as you remember, heavily put down with tanks, bullets and prison.

She returned to visit Vaclav Havel when Czechoslovakia became independent after the fall of the old Soviet system in Russia.

Great pictures, and quite memorable writing. Very readable. Highly recommended.

[Ryan Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.5/10
Who knew that Madeleine Albright could write like this? The book focuses a lot on Czechoslovakia just prior to and during the second World War. Albright was born just before the commencement of World War II and her dad served as a fairly prominent Czech politician during that time. While some of the book reads a bit like a history of her family, a majority is a well told description of the war from the point of view of the Czechs. As deep as all that may seem, the book is extremely easy to follow while taking into consideration multiple points of view. While I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of a lot of what took place in Europe during the war, I certainly took away a lot from "Prague Winter."

[A.L. Sowards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was part memoir, part narrative history. The author, Madeline Albright, gave a big-picture view of the war, with a focus on events affecting her native country of Czechoslovakia and her Jewish family. This book covers Czechoslovakia being taken over by the Nazis, then by the Communists. I have an ongoing interest in 20th century Czechoslovakian history, but most of my prior reading has been about WWI instead of WWII, so it was nice to study the later period. I enjoyed this book and learned something new.

[Rebecca Garland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book of Ms. Albright's early life after finding out as an adult that her past was not what she had thought. Regardless of your politics, this is a good read.

[Bonnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was titled ...A Personal Story of Remembrance and Was but wasn't very personal at all. It was a little dry, fact based, nothing wrong but also never caught fire. Meh.

[J. Aleksandr Wootton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good, for what it is: a portrait of Albright's native country and family from the build-up to WWII to its full incorporation into the Soviet bloc. Albright writes with a chronicler's attention to the forest as well as the trees and a statesman's appetite for political and historical nuance. Principled and insightful, Prague Winter is a first-rate resource for understanding Czechoslovakia's place, posture, and position in the diplomatic maneuvers of twentieth-century Europe.

While the book is indisputably personal to the author, it is too emotionally understated to be considered a memoir. One could argue that this makes the work more valuable as a political history. Albright shows herself a consummate diplomat in her treatment of her subject, but I found myself wishing for more concision in some places, more storytelling in others, and more of her own perspective and judgment. The work and its presentation deserves 4 stars, but although it furthered my desire to know more of Prague and Czech history, and without having any obvious flaws, my reading experience didn't fully deliver on Prague Winter's promise.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madeleine Albright, a Democrat who served as the first female Secretary of State in US history (1997-2001), has written an incredible memoir of her early life in Prague Winter. Subtitled 'A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1945', it deals with her family's experiences during and after the Second World War, and also serves as a wider history of what was then Czechoslovakia, and is now Czechia.

Before she was twelve years old, Albright's once settled life was upended by the Nazi invasion of Prague, where she was living with her mother and father. Other pivotal incidents which occurred during her early life were the Battle of Britain, 'the near-total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War.' When the Nazis invaded Prague, and went on to absorb the entire country of Czechoslovakia into Germany, Albright notes that her parents temporarily sent her to live with her grandmother, 'and did their best to do what their beloved country had done: disappear'.

Her family spent the Second World War in London, as her father's job in radio broadcasting allowed them an opportunity to relocate. He worked on BBC broadcasts, which many could still pick up - although illegally - in their homeland. Of her father during this period, Albright reflects: 'My father worked hard because his of passion for democracy but also because we needed money; the more he wrote, the more he was paid, which was still not much.' Being in London meant that Albright and her younger sister were now in the path of the Blitz, but both thankfully emerged relatively unscathed. The Korbels later moved to quieter towns on the outskirts of London, which were far more peaceful.

In her memoir, Albright has chosen to make extensive use of a number of sources - her own memories, the written memoirs of her parents, interviews with her contemporaries, and documents which have recently become available to the public. She begins her memoir by giving a rather thorough history of how Czechoslovakia, as she knew it, came to be; in its earlier chapters, at least, Prague Winter feels more like a sweeping history book of a geographical location rather than a personal memoir.

In something which seems astonishing, but is perhaps not due to the circumstances in which the Korbel family lived, Albright was unaware of her family's Jewish heritage until 'many decades after the war'. It was only when she began to serve as the US Secretary of State at the age of 59, that she learnt that over twenty of her own relatives had perished in the Holocaust. She comments: 'I had been brought up to believe in a history of my Czechoslovak homeland that was less tangled and more straightforward than the reality.'

Touchingly, Albright's thorough and heartbreaking memoir has been dedicated 'to those who did not survive but taught us how to live - and why.' As one would expect, there is much emphasis on Hitler's rise to power within the pages of Prague Winter, and its effects are felt throughout, both on a personal level, and throughout her home country. I was a scholar of this period in history for many years, and still read about it keenly. I am pleased to note that Albright's account did offer some historical context which I was previously unaware of, and proved quite a learning curve in several places.

Split into four distinct parts, Prague Winter moves chronologically between the pre-war period, and November 1948, when the Korbel family emigrated to the United States. Really well situated historically, and evidently a product of extensive detailed research, Prague Winter is a readable and accessible memoir. I very much admired the way in which Albright places herself within the narrative; she is both part of the action, and an overseer. I also liked the way in which she intertwines the personal and political, and the way in which she deals with such a fractious, and fractured, time. Her prose is filled with confidence and certainty, and is a wonderful choice to pick up for anyone interested in this period, or in Czechia generally. Prague Winter is very moving, and highly recommended.