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Cover Story

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Discovery Of A Secret

When Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was a little girl, her parents told her stories about growing up in Czechoslovakia. They talked of preparing for Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. They said their own parents had died around the time of World War II but did not say exactly how that had happened.

Last week Albright, now 59, began to see those stories in a different light. A reporter for the Washington Post had been researching Albright's family. He discovered that her parents had been born Jewish, not Catholic, as Albright had believed.

"I had never been told this," Albright said.

Albright says she understands her parents' secrecy. In World War II, Jews in most European countries were in danger. Germany's Nazi rulers, led by Adolf Hitler, were rounding up Jews and putting them to death. Albright's parents converted to Catholicism and fled to safety. She believes they kept her Jewish heritage secret to protect her from the awful truth: three of her grandparents and other relatives had been killed by the Nazis.

"I think my mother and father were the bravest people alive," she told the New York Times, choking back tears. "I am incredibly grateful."

Next: A Victory For Protestors