brzezinski, of course, had to flee czechoslovakia, just like you. and you actually talked about in a debate that rose up about colin powell and his view of the world, polilus -- versus your v of the world, how your view was shaped by your childhood. >> there's no question it was. one of the big issues was munich. how was it possible for this small country, czechoslovakia, to basically be betrayed by major powers and deals made over their heads and not standing up to evil. and so, i did, in fact, be -- i was affected by what people called the munich syndrome, which is basically to stand up to things, when evil is being perpetrated. >> and that is for our viewers, 1938, i believe, neville chamberlain goes to munich and appeases hitler. >> and what the story really talks about, much more than i ever knew, even at the time was how many deals were made to appease hitler, to kind of feed the beast and to see whether it was possible to just keep giving in to him, so that he would not carry out his plans to conquer europe. that's where the word "appeaseme "

it was a very long walk from normandy all the way to czechoslovakia. and that's what these men did. they led the way across europe. thank you very much. i'll take your questions at this point. [applause] sir. >> did they encounter any of the camps on their travels? >> yes, they did. several of the men encountered camps along the way, and those stories are sort of -- many of the men in headquarters companies, actually, encountered the camps, and they talked about seeing these human skeletons inside of the camp. and it became -- it crystallized everything that they were fighting for. they had saw firsthand exactly what the third like had done to people -- reich had done to people, and they realized, it became very self-evident what this whole war was about. yes, sir. >> patrick, you've written a lot about the incredible courage, particularly with a slant on the personal. what are some of the more compelling stories that you experienced as a result of your research and the work you've done? >> well, it's an honor to have you here, congressman longly. for me one that comes to mind very,

czechoslovakia and after it goes all out root out in the ninety nine three. then the relations between czechs and slovaks have improved and currently do relations between these two nations are better at it than ever and. the reason is that each nation is responsible for its own mattress reads well need to morrow until it leaves the euro zone so i think we did eventually do your oh so we'll have to break up anyway but how do you actually quit the currency wolfgang munch ells research just that's at the financial times he joins us now so how do you leave the euro there's no law that stops you know that stops greece from imposing you know the default there would be emergency laws naturally you would have to you know you would have to basically collect all the money stamp of the existing bank notes to you know make them greek euros so it's quite a bit of quite a bit of stuff that you need to do in order in order to get through and then you need to impose bank holidays so this is not doable in a weekend single probably have to close down the bank so what we hear o

eventually ended up in czechoslovakia. one ranger said to me they asked the rangers, sidney solomon was a very good friend of mine, did you just land on d-day? no. it was a very long walk from normandy all the way to check a slovakia. that is what these men did. they led the way across germany. thank you very much. i will take your questions. [applause] >> did they capture any camps? >> yes they did. several of the men encounter camps along the way. in those stories, many of the men in headquarters company encountered camps and they talked about seeing these human skeletons in side of the camp. it crystallized everything that they were fighting for. they had seen firsthand exactly what the third reich had done to people and they realize it became very self evident what the war was about. yes, sir? >> you have written a lot about a lot of incredible courage, particularly personal. what are the more compelling stories you have experienced as a result of your research? >> it is an honor to have you here. for me, one that come

also, we thought if the soviet union which occupied czechoslovakia and it could do the same to china.d change the psychological and strategic position in the world. >> and it was here in the growing wedge between the two communist powers that nixon and kissinger saw an opening. they would lean towards china. trouble was, how to contact a regime whose very existence the united states denied. >> we came up with the idea that our ambassador in warsaw should walk up to the chinese ambassador at the next social event in which they were both present and ask for a meeting. and say we wanted to talk. >> this is like a spy thriller. >> absolutely. so there was a yugoslav fashion show. they were both there. our ambassador walked over to the chinese and our ambassador chased him down the hallway and finally cornered him long enough to say we wanted to talk. two weeks later, a chinese car flying a chinese flag arrived at our embassy and the ambassador saying, okay. i'm ready to talk. >> but the meetings met with little progress. in the summer of 1969 with lower bureaucratic channels broken down.

in february of 1948, the communists seized control of czechoslovakia's. was the first soviet seizure by force of a free popular government and it stunned official washington. in china mao tse tung's people's liberation army and shanghai check's nationalist forces on the run the following year, the communists would assume command of the world's most populous nation. 1950 was a particularly eventful year. in january scientists called fuchs surrendered to british authorities admitting he was a nuclear spy the same month a halter hiss was convicted of perjury. the statute of limitations on espionage have inspired and he was sent to jail. in may, the fbi arrested harry gold who identified julius and ethel rosenberg as conspirators in a plot to give nuclear secrets to moscow. in june, north korea invaded south korea and presented the u.s. with a choice, turn back the invasion or allow the communists to secure a key piece on the chessboard of asia. in 1952 whitaker chambers published "witness". which argued that the united states faced a transcendent, not a tran

former secretary of state madeleine albright recounts her childhood in czechoslovakia during the naziion in "prague winter." in bill veeck, paul dickson details the life of the advocate for racial equality and players' economic rights. damien ec cols in "life after death." for an extended links of various publications' 2012 notable book

and as ambassador to czechoslovakia from 81-83. i will not go over the rest of his eminent and long career in the interest of time, but i just did want to give you a brief recap of all three of them. and, of course, marvin kalb, who is the edward r. murrow professor emeritus at the harvard school of government and to contribute news analyst for npr and fox news channel, and is frequently called upon to comment on major issues of the day by many other leading organizations, and also he is very dear to her heart here at afsa. history to serve as moderator and has done a superb job every time. very happy to have you back, marvin. thank you so much. let me just go back and say just a word about the in depth knowledge, the skill, the dedication and perseverance of each of you present today, who worked on the negotiating team for the process that led up to it. really did not just bring this to tuition -- fruition. it required outstanding diplomacy and capacity to balance the risks and demand of piece and the sort of okay security environ

and as ambassador to czechoslovakia from 81-83.nd i will not go over the rest of his eminent and long career in the interest of time. but i just did want to give you a brief recap of all three of them. and, of course, marvin kalb, who is the edward r. murrow professor emeritus at harvard kennedy school of government. and a contributing news analyst for npr and fox news channel. antaeus wrigley called upon to comment on major issues of the day by many other leading news organizations. and also he is very dear to our heart here at aspen because he is legally serve as moderator, and done a superb job each time. very happy to have you back, martin. thank you so much. let me just go back and say just a word about the in depth knowledge, skill, dedication and perseverance of each of you present today who worked on the negotiating team for the process that led up to it. really did not just bring this to fruition but also reflect the practice of diplomacy at its best. it required outstanding diplomacy and -- to balance the risks and demand