Prominent Refugees | Refugees who have made a difference

Madeleine Albright was the United States’ first female Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman in the history of the US government.

“Often I had no alternative but to work hard in order to survive and protect my family. I was a political exile and then an immigrant. That makes one strong.”

Philosopher Hannah Arendt, the author of “The Origins of Totalitarianism” and “The Banality of Evil”, was forced to flee Nazi Germany before World War II.

Hungarian composer Bela Bartók is known as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century for creating an original modern music style combined with folk elements.

Brodsky wrote nine volumes of poetry, several collections of essays and was co-founder of the American Poetry and Literacy project.

Photojournalist Robert Capa became known as one of the greatest war photographers of the 20th century and founder of the world-famous photo agency, Magnum.

Passionate, tragic, melancholic and patriotic, the great 19th-century composer Frédéric Chopin dreamed of freedom for his homeland, Poland.

Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich was one of the most prominent political refugees of her generation, speaking out against Hitler and singing for the US troops in World War II.

Oscar-winning director Milos Forman, famous for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus”, fled Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring of 1968.