Background
Korbel, Josef was born on September 20, 1909 in Kysperk, Czechoslovakia. Son of Arnost and Olga (Ptackova) Korbel.
Diplomat educationist political scientist university professor writer
Korbel, Josef was born on September 20, 1909 in Kysperk, Czechoslovakia. Son of Arnost and Olga (Ptackova) Korbel.
Juris Doctor, Charles U., Prague, 1933. Student Sorbonne, Paris, 1928-1929.
Korbel served as an advisor to Edvard Beneš, the exiled Czech president in London, until the Nazis were defeated. He then returned to Czechoslovakia, receiving a luxurious Prague apartment expropriated from Karl Nebrich, a Bohemian German industrialist expelled under the Beneš decrees. (Acquisition of this property later caused legal problems.
See below) Korbel was asked by president Beneš to serve but Korbel was forced to flee again during the Communist coup in 1948. Korbel was convicted of the Czech Communist coup in 1948, but escaped to the United States. Korbel was hired to teach international politics at the University of Denver and became the founding Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies.
One of his students was Condoleezza Rice, the first woman appointed National Security Advisor (2001) and the first African-American woman appointed Secretary of State (2005). Korbel's daughter Madeleine became the first female Secretary of State in 1997. After his death, the University of Denver established the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award in 2000.
Since then, 28 people have received it. The Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver was named the Josef Korbel School of International Studies on May 28, 2008. Philipp Harmer, an Austrian citizen, filed a lawsuit claiming that Josef Korbel's family is in inappropriate possession of artwork belonging to his great-grandfather, a German entrepreneur Karl Nebrich.
Like most other ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia, Nebrich and his family were expelled from the country under the postwar "Beneš decrees", and left behind artwork and furniture in an apartment subsequently given to Korbel's family, before they also were forced to flee the country.
Member Council Foreign Relations, New York City, Denver Committee Foreign Relations. Served as Lieutenant Czechoslovak Army, 1933-1934. Member Rocky Mountain Association Slavic Studies (president 1973-1974), American Association Advancement Slavic Studies, Czechoslovak Society Arts and Sciences in American, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Anna M. Spieglova, April. Children: Madeleine Jana (Mistress Joseph Member of Parliament Albright), Anna Katherine, John Joseph.