It is with profound sadness that we learned of the death of Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997, a member of the National Security Council’s staff in 1978-1981, and an outstanding public figure both in America and the international arena who contributed greatly to NATO’s enlargement and Poland’s membership in that Alliance.
Madeleine Albright’s last visit to Poland took place in March 2019, at the initiative of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and the College of Europe in Natolin. The former U.S. Secretary of State met then Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, Head of the Office of the President of Poland, Secretary of State Krzysztof Szczerski, the Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who visited Poland the same time. Also, she had a meeting with former President of Poland Lech Wałęsa, and former Deputy Prime Minister and Governor of the National Bank of Poland, Leszek Balcerowicz. She took part in the conference commemorating the 70th anniversary of NATO, organized by the Polish Institute of Foreign Affairs and the German Marshall Fund, attended also by former UK Secretary of Defense and Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, and former Polish Minister of Defense Janusz Onyszkiewicz, among the others.
During her visit to the College of Europe Natolin Campus Secretary Albright inaugurated a series of lectures on the late Professor Zbigniew Brzeziński – “The Zbigniew Brzezinski Memorial Lecture Series”.
The former Secretary of State also participated in an open meeting at the University of Warsaw where she discussed her last book – “Fascism: A Warning”, among other topics. And she attended a sneak preview of “The Courier”, a movie on Jan Nowak-Jeziorański with whom she had cooperated for many years.
In July 2016 Madeleine Albright was a guest at the fourth round of the Warsaw Euro-Atlantic Summer Academy (WEASA) – a joint initiative of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation, the College of Europe Natolin Campus and The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
“She was a pioneer who was shaping American foreign policy at the end of Cold War and an advocate of NATO enlargement,” U.S. Ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski, said.
It was thanks to her support that in 1999 the decision was made to establish the Polish-American Freedom Foundation which began its operations in Poland a year later.
